Afghanistan: Human Rights

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 21 May 2009,  Official Report, column 1496W, on Afghanistan: females, what reports he has received on the  (a) composition,  (b) mandate and  (c) method of operation of the drafting committee established by the Afghan Ministry of Justice to re-examine certain provisions of the Shi'a Family Law; and if he will make a statement.

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on progress in the review of Shi'a Family Law in Afghanistan ordered by President Karzai; what discussions he has had with the government of Afghanistan on that matter; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: We, along with other international partners, made our concerns about the Shi'a Personal Status Law clear to the Afghan Government at a senior level. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister raised the issue with President Karzai. We welcomed President Karzai's announcement on 27 April 2009 that the law would be changed to bring it in line with the Afghan Constitution, which guarantees equal rights for women, and the international treaties to which Afghanistan is a party.
	On 20 June 2009, the Minister of Justice met with female representatives of the Afghan Parliament and civil society and told them that his Ministry has now amended the Law. The amendments were made following written recommendations by Afghan civil society (the Afghan Women's Network), Katib university and moderate Ulema (religious scholars).
	We understand the amendments made by the Afghan Ministry of Justice have added around 60 articles and removed around 10 from the Law. Language was also added to clarify the meaning of certain articles. The amended draft was viewed by the above female representatives as broadly 'pro women', and contentious articles, including the provision appearing to legalise rape, had been removed. The Law is also being reviewed by the Supreme Court.
	President Karzai has indicated that the Law will next be sent back to the Afghan Parliament for approval (in time for the new session of Parliament, beginning 20 July 2009).
	The Law continues to cause controversy on both sides—some religiously conservative Ulema are still lobbying the President to pass the original draft, parts of which the international community and many Afghans deemed unacceptable. The outcome is still uncertain, therefore we, along with our international partners and Afghan civil society, will continue to follow the passage of the Law closely. We will lobby the Afghan Government whenever appropriate, to help ensure the final Law respects women's rights and does not undo progress made since 2001.

Departmental Finance

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the budget for his Department's  (a) policy planning staff and  (b) research analysts was in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Chris Bryant: In financial year 2008-09, the budgets were as follows:
	
		
			   Budget (£000) 
			 Policy Planning staff 1,903 
			 Research Analysts 4,086

Departmental Responsibilities

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the roles and responsibilities are of each Minister in his Department.

Chris Bryant: The roles and responsibilities of each Minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) are as follows:
	 Right hon. David Miliband MP: Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
	Overall responsibility for the work of the Office
	Strategy and Policy Planning
	Communications
	Honours
	Whitehall Liaison Department
	 Right hon. Lord Malloch-Brown: Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, attending Cabinet
	Afghanistan and South Asia
	Africa
	United Nations
	Human Rights
	Global Issues
	Commonwealth
	Ministerial Oversight for FCO Services
	Ivan Lewis' business, plus Public Diplomacy (including British Council and BBC World Service) in the Lords
	 Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: Minister of State (Europe)
	European Union
	Europe, including Balkans, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova
	Russia, South Caucasus, Central Asia
	Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Council of Europe
	FCO finance
	Chris Bryant's business in the Lords (except Public Diplomacy)
	 Ivan Lewis MP: Minister of State
	Middle East
	Counter Terrorism
	Counter Proliferation
	South East Asia and Far East
	North America
	Middle East and North Africa
	Drugs and International Crime
	Migration
	North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
	Leads on Lord Malloch-Brown's business in the Commons
	 Chris Bryant MP: Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
	Overseas Territories
	South America
	Caribbean and Central America
	Australasia and Pacific
	Consular policy
	Olympics
	Shanghai Expo 2010
	Protocol
	HR and Diversity
	Public Diplomacy, including British Council and BBC World Service
	Leads on Baroness Kinnock's business in the Commons, including Europe
	 Lord Mervyn Davies of Abersoch CBE: Minister for Trade and Investment
	UK Trade and Investment (joint Minister with Department for Business, Innovation and Skills)
	 Baroness Taylor of Bolton: Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
	Liaison with MOD on security and defence policy issues (joint with Ministry of Defence)
	This information is publicly available on the FCO website:
	ixhttp://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/how-we-are-organised/ministers/

Iran: Foreign Relations

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his most recent assessment of the state of UK relations with Iran is; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: We have made clear that the UK is committed to a positive and constructive bilateral relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and one that is based on mutual respect. But for that relationship to work, Iran's leaders must take seriously the international community's concerns about recent events, and about Iran's nuclear programme.
	We have made very clear our concern at the Iranian authorities' response to post-election demonstrations, and at the expulsion of international journalists from Iran. The arrest of several locally-employed Iranian members of our embassy staff was extremely concerning. Our efforts are fully focused on securing the release of the one still-detained staff member.

Kenya: Politics and Government

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to support the Kenyan Government's political reform programme; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The UK has provided support to the Kenyan Government's political reform programme through its contribution to the Annan process and the National Accord. We have provided £1.4 million (£200,000 in 2007-08 and £1.2 million in 2008-09). Additional support has been provided to civil society organisations to assist communities to reconcile and engage in the peace process. In the past two financial years, civil society support amounted to £1.2 million.
	All support has jointly been managed by the Department for International Development (DfID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, through the Africa Conflict Prevention Programme (ACPP).
	We continue to urge Kenya's leaders to work together to ensure that the key reforms needed in Kenya are made. We will continue to offer our full support to Kofi Annan and his leadership role in the reform process.

Palestinians

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on demolitions of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The demolition of houses in East Jerusalem is, with very few exceptions, illegal under international law. It also threatens the viability of a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement in the Middle East.
	My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary made clear the UK's concerns about the demolition of Palestinian buildings in East Jerusalem during his statement to the UN Security Council on 11 May 2009 and it was also raised during the EU Foreign Ministers' meeting on 15 June 2009.
	The Foreign Secretary also continues to call on Israel to freeze settlement construction, including in East Jerusalem. We will continue to raise these issues as a high priority with Israel both privately and publicly; the Foreign Secretary last did so in his conversation with the Israeli Foreign Minister on 1 July 2009.

Spirit of Humanity

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Israel on the interception of the vessel Spirit of Humanity and the detention of the UK citizens on board.

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department has taken in response to the Israeli navy boarding the Gaza ship Spirit of Humanity; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the interception by the Israeli navy of the ship Spirit of Humanity; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: I can confirm the Israeli navy boarded the vessel "Spirit of Humanity" on 30 June 2009. The Israeli navy took control of the vessel and diverted it to Ashdod port in Israel, where all those on board, including six British nationals, were handed over to Israeli immigration officials. British consular officials have had good access to the British detainees and confirm that they are in good health and being treated well.
	When my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary spoke to his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman on 1 July 2009, he raised the issue with him and asked for clarification of whether the "Spirit of Humanity" was intercepted in international waters. We will continue to press the Israeli Government for clarification.

Trident

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his Department's evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee's inquiry into Global Security: Non-Proliferation, HC 222, Ev 118, what assessment he has made of the merits of suspending the Trident replacement programme in the context of negotiations to reduce warhead numbers; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister stated on 17 March 2009, as soon as it becomes useful for our nuclear arsenal to be included in broader multilateral negotiations, Britain stands ready to participate and to act. A decision now not to renew our Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear (SSBN) submarine fleet would pre-empt any such negotiation, by committing a future Government to unilateral disarmament at the end of the current fleet's lifespan, regardless of the strategic circumstances at that time.

Animal Welfare

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations he has received in respect of his Department's consultation on proposals to remove strict liability from animal owners under the Animals Act 1971; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: DEFRA has received 33 responses from a wide range of respondents, including private individuals, large national organisations, small local or regional groups, independent equine businesses, insurance companies and legal firms. We are now considering these detailed responses and will publish a summary of responses shortly.

Animals: Quarantine

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many animals of each species were kept in quarantine facilities operated by his Department in 2008.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The following species arrived in the UK in 2008 and went into quarantine. This does not include animals which entered into quarantine at the end of 2007 and were released in 2008.
	
		
			  Species  Number in quarantine 
			 Armadillos 2 
			 Baboons 2 
			 Bats 12 
			 Beavers 38 
			 Binturongs 1 
			 Cats 1,169 
			 Cheetahs 14 
			 Chinchillas 2 
			 Dogs 2,110 
			 Foxes 4 
			 Ferrets 2 
			 Fossas 2 
			 Fruit bats 10 
			 Guinea pigs 5 
			 Lemurs 4 
			 Leopards 5 
			 Lions 3 
			 Lynxes 1 
			 Mice 6 
			 Ocelots 1 
			 Otters 4 
			 Primates 2,209 
			 Pumas 4 
			 Rabbits 16 
			 Red pandas 1 
			 Sea lions 3 
			 Tenrecs 15 
			 Tigers 5 
			 Wallabies 2 
			 Weasels 8 
			 Wolves 1 
			 Total 5,661 
			  Note: The figures in the table are taken from Animal Health's bespoke quarantine system.

Animals: Quarantine

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many animals in quarantine were vaccinated against rabies while in quarantine in each of the last five years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of animals which went into quarantine in the following years (from 1 January until 31 December for each year) and were vaccinated against rabies are as follows:
	
		
			   Number of animals in quarantine and vaccinated against rabies 
			 2005 1,836 
			 2006 1,938 
			 2007 1,642 
			 2008 1,929 
			 2009 (1)623 
			 (1) Figures from 1 January 2009 until 1 June 2009.  Note: The figures in the table are taken from Animal Health's bespoke quarantine system. 
		
	
	Only domestic (i.e. pet) cats and dogs are required to be vaccinated against rabies in quarantine unless they have been prepared for the Pet Travel Scheme for early release, in which case they can waive the requirement for rabies vaccination. Other mammals, zoo or research animals do not have to be vaccinated against rabies in quarantine.
	These figures do not include animals which, for example, entered the UK (and entered quarantine) at the end of 2004 and were vaccinated, but released from quarantine in 2005.

Wildlife: Disease Control

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what financial support is available for his Department's surveillance strategy to guard against the spread of wildlife diseases in 2009-10.

Jim Fitzpatrick: A total of £1.5 million is allocated to financing activities to guard against the spread of wildlife diseases in 2009-10. This figure includes funding to support a range of activities including surveillance for diseases in wildlife, for example avian influenza in wild birds, contingency planning and disease control for rabies and collection of wild bird population data.

A1

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the merits of introducing  (a) separated junctions at Sandy, Beeston and Biggleswade and  (b) new bypasses for Sandy and Biggleswade on the A1 between the Black Cat roundabout and the A1(M) at Radwell north of Baldock.

Chris Mole: The A1 trunk road through Bedfordshire is identified as a road of regional importance. As such the priority to be given for separated junctions at Sandy, Beeston and Biggleswade and new bypasses for Sandy and Biggleswade is initially for the East of England to consider.
	In March 2009 the region submitted advice to Government on public spending priorities for transport, housing and regeneration, economic development and skills as part of the refresh of the Regional Funding Advice (known as RFA2). This includes transport priorities in the region through to 2018-19. The Government expect to respond to the region's advice later this year. However, the region did not include these junctions and bypasses in its submitted priorities.

Aviation

Lembit �pik: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the merits of retaining policy-making in respect of non-commercial flight crew licensing in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Clark: The Department for Transport consulted on the proposal to extend the European Aviation Safety Agency's remit to air operations and flight crew licensing, including for non-commercial aviation, in 2006.
	The subsequent EC Regulation 216/2008, which came into effect in April 2008, established Community competence for policy-making with regards to flight crew licences. However, in common with all EU member states, the UK has retained competence for policy-making with respect to licences for pilots of aircraft not covered by Regulation 216/2008. These are known as Annex 2 aircraft and include: microlights, ex-military aircraft and home-built aircraft.

Campaign for Better Transport: Government Assistance

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much funding his Department and its agencies have provided to the Campaign for Better Transport in the last five years; and for what projects such funding was allocated.

Sadiq Khan: The Department for Transport has provided the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) with the following funding in the last five years:
	
		
			   000 
			 2004-05 126 
			 2005-06 71 
			 2006-07 193 
			 2007-08 246 
			 2008-09 250 
		
	
	None of the Department's agencies have funded CBT. The funding was provided for the following projects:
	National Business Travel Network, (2007-09)
	Ground Floor Partners (2004-08)
	Car Free Leisure Network (2004-06)
	Life Transitions, (2004-05)
	Residential Travel Plans Project, (2004-05)
	Making School Travel Plans Work, (2004-05)

Cycling: Finance

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much funding his Department has allocated to encourage bicycle usage in  (a) Cambridgeshire,  (b) Peterborough,  (c) Huntingdonshire and  (d) the East of England in each of the last five years.

Sadiq Khan: The Department for Transport has awarded cycle training grants as set out in table 1 to the following local authorities in the East of England since we first started awarding grants for National Standard Cycle Training, promoted as Bikeability training in 2006-07. Table 2 provides details of grants made direct to School Sports Partnerships in the East of England.
	The Department has made 4 million available to the School Sports Partnerships in 2009-10 in addition to the 5.4 million awarded to over 90 local authorities. School Sports Partnerships will not bid for grant until later in the year but we expect to meet all claims for cycle training grant in full in 2009-10.
	
		
			  Table 1: Local authority 
			  Grant () 
			  East of England  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 Bedfordshire County Council  6,720.00 32,000.00  
			 Bedford Borough Council28,000.00 
			 Central Bedfordshire Borough Council35,240.00 
			 Cambridge22,480.00 
			 Colchester27,360.00 
			 Essex County Council   10,000.00 26,000.00 
			 Hertfordshire County Council 28,000.00 59,500.00 65,000.00 70,000.00 
			 Leighton Linslade63,000.00 
			 Luton Borough Council 6,400.00 1,200.00 10,000.00 20,000.00 
			 Southend on Sea Council   20,160.00 31,104.00 
			 Suffolk County Council12,000.00 
			 Thurrock Council   24,000.00 32,000.00 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: School Sports Partnerships 
			  Grant () 
			  East of England  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 Colne (Essex) 8,000.00  12,800.00 
			 Bury St. Edmunds (Suffolk)  9,600.00  
			 Sudbury (Suffolk)  4,000.00 4,000.00 
			 Biddenham (Bedford)  12,000.00  
			 Sharnbrook Upper (Bedford)  12,080.00  
			 Redbourne (Bedford)   40,000.00 
			 Castlepoint and Rochford (Essex)   3,000.00 
			 Davenant (Essex)   25,000.00 
			 Chelmsford (Essex)   25,000.00 
			 Thurstable (Essex)   36,000.00 
			 North Norfolk (Norfolk)   13,800.00 
			 Cliff Park (Norfolk)   24,000.00 
		
	
	In addition, Cambridge was included in the new Cycling Cities and Towns programme by Cycling England and was awarded 500,000 in 2008-09. Three other towns in the Eastern region also received funding last year from this programme: Colchester 400,000, Leighton-Linslade 567,138 and Southend-on-Sea 399,760.

Driving: Working Hours

Alistair Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer of 17 June 2009,  Official Report, column 290W, on driving: working hours, which categories of privately-owned horsebox are exempt from EU regulations on drivers' hours; and whether drivers of horseboxes are considered commercial or non-commercial drivers.

Paul Clark: Privately owned horseboxes are exempt from the directly applicable EU drivers' hours rules if they do not exceed 7.5 tonnes and are being used for the non-commercial carriage of goods.
	Generally speaking, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) would normally consider that a vehicle not exceeding 7.5 tonnes is being used on a non-commercial basis where it is clear that the carriage of goods (in this case horses) is not with a view to making a profit. But ultimately, of course, it remains for the courts to interpret the law.

Heathrow Airport

Susan Kramer: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the  (a) surface area of and  (b) number of people resident within the boundaries of the (i) 43-decibel and (ii) 57-decibel contour at Heathrow in each year since 1997;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of people resident within the boundary of the 43 decibel contour around Heathrow airport following the entry into operation of the third runway.

Paul Clark: As explained in the written answer on 25 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 856-7W, daytime noise from aircraft is not normally assessed below 57 dBA or, for sensitivity analysis, below 54 dBA. Figures for 43 dBA are not therefore available.
	Noise contour reports covering Heathrow from 1997 onwards are available on the Department for Transport's website:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/aviation/environmentalissues/nec/

High Speed One

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport when he expects the sale of High Speed One to be completed.

Chris Mole: The Government expect to substantially complete the financial and operational restructuring of High Speed 1 this summer. Thereafter, the Government's intention is to secure best value in High Speed 1 through a public auction of a long-term concession.
	The precise timing of this sale has not yet been decided and will depend on an assessment of market conditions.

Parking: Fines

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what recent estimate he has made of the level of use of automated number plate recognition systems in the levying of parking fines; and what guidance his Department has issued on the proportionate use of traffic-based surveillance cameras.

Sadiq Khan: Camera equipment used by traffic authorities for civil parking enforcement has to be certified by the Secretary of State for Transport. The Department for Transport (DFT) is aware of one authority whose certified system uses Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology to assist the visual identification of vehicles when the evidence is reviewed. Any system that relied solely on ANPR evidence would not comply with the certification criteria.
	Guidance for traffic authorities in England on the use of camera technology for civil parking enforcement is set out on pages 55 to 58 of DFT's Operational Guidance to Local Authorities on Parking Policy and Enforcement, issued in March 2008.

Transport: Government Assistance

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much his Department has spent on assistance for major public transport schemes in the East of England in each of the last 10 years.

Sadiq Khan: The Department for Transport has provided the following support for public transport major schemes in the East of England in the last 10 years:
	
		
			  Major public transport scheme s:  East of England 
			   Funding ( million) 
			   1999-2004  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 Cambridgeshire Guided Busway15.9 38.0 38.6 
			 Norwich Public Transport Interchange  9.8 
			 A13 Passenger Transport Corridor (A127-A1159)   14.5

Building Britain's Future

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions officials of his Department have had with officials of other Government departments on the contents of Bills referred to in Annex A of the Building Britain's Future document.

Peter Hain: Wales Office officials have held, and continue to hold discussions with colleagues from other Government Departments on the implications for Wales of Bills in the Draft Legislative Programme.

Building Britain's Future

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the content of Bills referred to in Annex A of the Building Britain's Future document.

Peter Hain: My predecessor and I have held, and will continue to hold discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the content of Bills in the Draft Legislative Programme, as was published on 29 June 2009.

Overseas Aid

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of his Department's bilateral aid to each recipient country is  (a) budgetary and  (b) project support in 2008-09.

Michael Foster: A detailed breakdown of the Department for International Development's (DFID) bilateral aid to each recipient country by aid-type is published in Statistics on International Development, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House or via DFID's website:
	www.dfid.gov.uk

Arts

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what role he expects  (a) the Youth Culture Trust and  (b) Creativity Culture and Education to have in the (i) Find your Talent and (ii) Creative Partnerships scheme.

Barbara Follett: As Creativity Culture and Education are still in the process of delivering the Find Your Talent pathfinders and Creative Partnerships scheme, the Youth Culture Trust has not yet been established.
	This is because the purpose of the Youth Culture Trust is to deliver on the vision of Find Your Talent and the precise administrative arrangements for this will not be finalised until the scale and purpose of the programme beyond the pathfinders has been finalised.

Children

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding has been allocated to encourage children to adopt more active lifestyles in  (a) Test Valley Borough and  (b) Southampton in the last 12 months.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Sport England have advised that the following initiatives have received funding to encourage children to adopt more active lifestyles in  (a) Test Valley and  (b) Southampton in the last 12 months.
	 (i) Sport Unlimited
	Sport Unlimited is an integral part of the Government's PE and Sport Strategy for Young People. The overall aim of Sport Unlimited is to increase opportunities for children and young people aged five to 19 to participate regularly in sport.
	It will do this by providing a range of attractive and sustainable opportunities in sporting activities for young people to take part in out of school hours during term time and will focus on out of school hours and club activities both within school and community settings.
	In Southampton, approximately 36,428 is allocated this financial year to deliver projects across the city. In addition, approximately 12,400 has been allocated to the Test Valley. Both areas will also benefit from the Leadership and Volunteering award. Sport England allocated 22,000 to the County Sports Partnership.
	 (ii) Awards for All
	Awards for All allocated 9,300 to set up a rugby club for young people and adults with learning difficulties. Funding was for kit and equipment with the aim of providing opportunities for members to participate in training and competitive tag rugby matches in a safe and fun environment.
	 (iii) Other Sport England funding
	Southampton Amateur Gym Club was awarded 8,414 from the Community Club Development Programme and Eastleigh Football in the Community was awarded 10,500 Sportsmatch funding.
	 (iv) Free Swimming
	Southampton unitary authority has opted in to the under 16 and over 60 Free Swimming Programme and has received 173,211. The local authorities that have opted to offer the scheme to both age groups have also received a share of a 10 million capital fund to spend on modernising or improving pool provision. Southampton has received 69,290 in this regard.

Culture: Education

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what expenditure his Department has incurred on the Find Your Talent scheme in  (a) total and  (b) each of the 10 pathfinder regions to date.

Barbara Follett: The total expenditure on Find Your Talent to date is approximately 6,833,601, of which approximately 6,389,301 has been spent on the 10 pathfinders. The breakdown is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Pathfinder  Total to date () 
			 Bolton 650,000 
			 Shepway 498,000 
			 Customs House 665,000 
			 Leeds 740,000 
			 Leicestershire 740,000 
			 Liverpool 783,885 
			 North Somerset 521,000 
			 PUSH 611,416 
			 Telford and Wrekin 560,000 
			 Tower Hamlets 620,000 
			 Total 6,389,301

Digital Switchover Help Scheme

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what his Department's estimate is of the level of under-spend over the whole period of the Digital Switchover Help Scheme, as referred to in the Digital Britain report; and how this estimate has been arrived at.

Ben Bradshaw: The National Audit Office estimated an underspend of around 250 million in 2008 based on the take-up rate of the Help Scheme during the switchover at Whitehaven and Copeland. We have since had continuing discussions with the BBC Help Scheme about take up rates in subsequent switchovers and other cost drivers, and these confirm that this is a robust estimate of the eventual underspend. After switchover in the Granada TV region is completed at the end of 2009, when a significant proportion and representative sample of households will have switched over, we will conduct a further stock-take of the position.

Football Foundation

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much Sport England has paid to the Football Foundation in each of the last three years; and what payments he expects to be made in each of the next three years.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 3 July 2009
	Sport England advise that in the last three years it has funded the Football Foundation for capital and revenue projects as follows:
	2006-07: 20,675,000 (Exchequer) + 2,500,000 (Lottery)
	2007-08: 16,000,000 (Exchequer) + 2,500,000 (Lottery)
	2008-09: 17,500,000 (Exchequer)
	In addition the Football Foundation received the following Exchequer payments on behalf of the Football Association under the Community Club Development Programme, a programme administered by Sport England:
	2006-07: 1,388,784
	2007-08: 2,307,495
	2008-09: 4,047,670
	Sport England is currently in negotiation with the Football Foundation over its funding agreement for 2009-13.

Tourism: Expenditure

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the amount spent on tourism by local authorities in the latest period for which figures are available.

Barbara Follett: holding answer 3 July 2009
	Figures for local authority tourism spending in England are drawn from returns made by individual authorities to the Department for Communities and Local Government. The most recent data available are for 2007-08, in which net current expenditure on tourism amounted to 123.3 million.

Tourism: Transport

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make it his policy to produce with the Secretary of State for Transport a draft strategy to develop transport networks in order to encourage growth in the tourism industry.

Barbara Follett: We currently have no plans to produce such a strategy, but my Department is already working with the Department for Transport on a number of tourism transport issues. For example, ministerial colleagues from the Department for Transport are members of the recently established Cross-Government Ministerial Group on Tourism, which was set up to promote and support the industry in Westminster and Whitehall.
	In addition, our recently published sustainable tourism framework takes account of the Department for Transport's Delivering a Sustainable Transport System which sets out the Government's aim of building up a transport system which supports quality of life and a healthy natural environment. This is one of the Department for Transport's five strategic goals and is underpinned by a number of challenges which will be used to inform future transport spending priorities and could be used by transport planners for transport schemes that would support tourism.

UK School Games: Finance

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much each funding stream contributed to the UK School Games in  (a) 2006,  (b) 2007 and  (c) 2008; and how much each stream is contributing to the 2009 UK School Games.

Gerry Sutcliffe: A breakdown of the funding streams from the Exchequer, the National Lottery, private sponsorship and the host city for the UK School Games between 2006 and 2009 is displayed as follows:
	 2006 (2.036 million)
	Exchequer0
	Lottery1,484,000 (Millennium Commission)
	Private sector343,000
	Host city209,000
	 2007 (2.89 million)
	Exchequer0
	Lottery2.3 million (BIG Lottery)
	Private sector540,000
	Host city50,000
	 2008 (3.260 million)
	Exchequer2.7 million
	Lottery0
	Private sector160,000
	Host city400,000
	 2009 (3.4 million estimated)
	Exchequer2.7 million
	Lottery0
	Private sector200,000 (estimated)
	Host city500,000

UK School Games: Finance

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 22 June 2009,  Official Report, column 615W, on the UK School Games: finance, how much funding the UK School Games received from  (a) the Exchequer,  (b) the National Lottery,  (c) private sponsorship and  (d) the host city money between 2006 and 2009; and how much funding from each source he expects to be provided in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 3 July 2009
	A breakdown of funding from the Exchequer, the National Lottery, private sponsorship and the host city for the UK School Games between 2006 and 2009 is displayed in the following list:
	 2006 (2.036 million)
	Exchequer0
	Lottery1,484,000 (Millennium Commission)
	Private sector343,000
	Host city209,000
	 2007 (2.89 million)
	Exchequer0
	Lottery2.3 million (BIG Lottery)
	Private sector540,000
	Host city50,000
	 2008 (3.260 million)
	Exchequer2.7 million
	Lottery0
	Private sector160,000
	Host city400,000
	 2009 (3.4 million estimated)
	Exchequer2.7 million
	Lottery0
	Private sector200,000 (estimated)
	Host city500,000
	The exact nature of distribution of funding for the games in 2010 and 2011 is currently under discussion.

Translation Services: Northern Ireland

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the National Framework Agreement on arrangements for the use of interpreters, translators and language service professionals within the criminal justice system applies to Northern Ireland.

Paul Goggins: The National Agreement on Arrangements for the Use of Interpreters and Translators in the Criminal Justice System only applies to provision within England and Wales. In Northern Ireland, a joint contract has been established between relevant criminal justice organisations and the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (for face-to-face interpretation) and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (for sign language). This aims to enhance consistency in how interpretation is used across the criminal justice system by setting out the specific requirements of each partner organisation which is underpinned by individual organisational guidance. The contract provides flexibility for the use of interpreters registered with the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (England and Wales), where particular requirements cannot be met locally.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the armed forces deployed in each region of Afghanistan  (a) have been trained in each year since 2001 and  (b) are being trained in each local Afghan language.

Bill Rammell: Records for Farsi are available from 2001. Very little training in Pashto and Dari was conducted before 2005. This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Farsi and Dari are very similar languages and many personnel trained in Farsi have also received some training in Dari.
	The following tables provide the available figures for each of the three relevant languages.
	
		
			  Pashto 
			   SLP1  SLP2  SLP3  SLP4  Total 
			 2009 18 2 2 0 22 
			 2008 11 33 18 2 64 
			 2007 65 34 6 0 105 
			 2006 30 17 1 0 48 
			 2005 7 0 0 0 7 
			 Total 131 86 27 2 246 
		
	
	
		
			  Dari 
			   SLP1  SLP2  SLP3  SLP4  Total 
			 2009 8 4 0 0 12 
			 2008 6 2 1 0 9 
			 2007 0 0 0 0 0 
			 2006 6 6 0 0 12 
			 2005 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 20 12 1 0 33 
		
	
	
		
			  Farsi 
			   SLP1  SLP2  SLP3  SLP4  Total 
			 2009 0 0 0 0 0 
			 2008 5 15 3 1 24 
			 2007 18 20 7 1 46 
			 2006 3 19 12 3 37 
			 2005 1 8 1 2 12 
			 2004 0 1 4 3 8 
			 2003 0 2 2 3 7 
			 2002 0 0 2 2 4 
			 2001 0 1 0 2 3 
			 Total 27 66 31 17 141 
		
	
	The figures in the table do not include figures for the Special Forces and do not include personnel who have left the services since their language training and whose details are no longer available. The figures for 2009 are to date and do not include expected outputs for the remainder of the year.
	Entries are made against the year when qualifications were achieved. SLP levels can be defined as follows: SLP1Survival, SLP2Functional, SLP3Professional and SLP4Expert. Qualifications in speaking and listening skills have been used to determine the SLP level against which personnel are listed.
	The figures for Pashto do not include personnel who received SLP1 level training but were not examined, or did not pass the exam, at this level. It is estimated that up to 200 personnel fall into this category.
	In addition to this, all military personnel deploying to Afghanistan receive a little training from native speakers in very basic phrases, words and responses, and are issued with an aide-mmoire. Approximately 14,000 personnel have received this very basic training in the last year.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to his speech given at Wilton Park on 15 January 2009, NATO at 60: towards a new strategic concept, how many additional helicopters have been delivered to forces in Afghanistan as a result of the UK-French Helicopter Fund established in the March 2008 Franco-British Summit Communiqu.

Bob Ainsworth: A number of nations have benefited from the UK-FR helicopter initiative to make their helicopters more deployable. The first three helicopters will deploy to Afghanistan as a direct result of the initiative from December this year. We expect a further five to deploy in 2010 and up to three more by end 2011. Additional contributions to the fund would further increase these numbers.

Gurkhas: Pensions

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will assess the merits of increasing the future pension for Gurkhas who served prior to 1997 to a level equivalent to that of British Army soldiers with the same service with effect from 1 April 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: It has been the policy of successive Governments not to implement changes to pensions and similar benefits retrospectively. This policy has been applied across the public sector in the United Kingdom, not just to Gurkha veterans. To do so now would not only be counter to this policy but would also lead to potential claims from other groups in public sector schemes.
	The Gurkha pension scheme pays pensions earlier than the armed forces pension scheme. This is because Gurkhas are unlikely to work again in Nepal unlike their British counterparts, in the UK. For example, a Gurkha Rifleman or Corporal with 15 years service (approximately 85 per cent. of those receiving GPS payments) can claim an immediate pension (from age 33) whereas equivalent service under the AFPS would not attract pension payments until age 60. Like any pension scheme, the earlier the benefits are paid the lower the annual payment.
	It has been estimated that the cost of increasing the annual pension payments for Gurkhas who served prior to 1 July 1997 to the amount received by their UK equivalents would be 1.5 billion over 20 years.

Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the armed forces deployed in each region of Iraq  (a) have been trained in each year since 2003 and  (b) are being trained in each local Iraqi language.

Bill Rammell: Arabic is the most widely spoken language in Iraq. Apart from Arabic, a number of minority languages are spoken in Iraq. The only language group with a population over 1 million is Kurdish, in its various forms, and the only other language groups with a population over 100,000 are Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Azeri and Farsi.
	The following table reflects the numbers of personnel trained in Arabic since 2003. Defence has not trained personnel in Kurdish. While Defence has a Farsi capability, no personnel have been trained in Farsi specifically for operations in Iraq, and neither Chaldean Neo-Aramic nor Azeri has ever been required in an Operation Telic context.
	The following table provides the available figures for training in Arabic.
	
		
			  Arabic  SLP1  SLP2  SLP3  SLP4  Total 
			 2009 1 3 0 0 4 
			 2008 16 37 13 4 70 
			 2007 67 88 26 5 186 
			 2006 38 38 20 4 100 
			 2005 40 16 19 3 78 
			 2004 10 10 19 1 40 
			 2003 1 3 16 0 20 
			 Total 173 195 113 17 498 
		
	
	The above figures do not include figures for the special forces, and do not include personnel who have left the services since their language training and whose details are no longer available. The figures for 2009 are to date and do not include expected outputs for the remainder of the year.
	Entries are made against the year when qualifications were achieved. SLP levels can be defined as follows: SLP 1Survival, SLP 2Functional, SLP 3Professional and SLP 4Expert. Qualifications in speaking and listening skills have been used to determine the SLP level against which personnel are listed.
	The figures do not include personnel who received SLP 1 level training but were either not examined or did not pass the exam at this level. It is estimated that up to 200 personnel fall into this category.
	The figures do not reflect the very basic Arabic language training provided to all deploying personnel. During pre-deployment training, they have received some instruction in greetings and responses, words and phrases, and have been issued with a language aide-mmoire to enable basic communication.

Military Aircraft: Training

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many training hours flying time RAF fast jet pilots were able to undertake on average in each year since 2004.

Bob Ainsworth: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
	 Substantive answer from Bill Rammell to Liam Fox:
	My predecessor undertook to write to you in response to your Parliamentary Questions on 23 February 2009 (Official Report, column 37W) and 2 March 2009 (Official Report, column 1364W) about the average training hours spent by fast jet pilots in each aircraft type in each year since 2003 and in each month of 2008 and the training hours flying time RAF fast jet pilots were able to undertake on average in each year since 2004, respectively. I undertook to write once officials had completed collating the data and as the two questions are very similar in nature I am providing a combined answer.
	Aircrew are monitored for competency levels throughout their flying career and training continues for Front Line aircrew after the initial award of Combat Ready Status. This answer gives the number of average actual Front Line pilot training flying hours for 2005 onwards. Information prior to 2005 could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Additionally, subsequent changes to the flying hours reporting system have resulted in data not being held centrally for 2007/08; figures for that year could only be retrieved at disproportionate cost. Therefore, figures for the financial year 2007-08 have not been provided.
	The available annual data is provided below and has been rounded to the nearest whole number.
	
		
			   Average actual front line pilot training flying hours 
			  Fast jet aircraft type  FY 2005/06  FY 2006/07 
			 Jaguar 225 197 
			 Tornado F3 204 220 
			 Tornado GR4 194 195 
			 Harrier 165 148 
			 Typhoon 264 250 
			 Total hours 1,052 1,010 
		
	
	From the information provided above the average of actual fast jet pilot training flying hours is 210 for FY 2005-06 and 202 for FY 2006-07.
	Changes to the flying hours reporting system mentioned above, also means that monthly data for the period January to March 2008 could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	The available monthly data for 2008 is provided below and has been rounded to the nearest whole number.
	
		
			   Average actual monthly front line pilot training flying hours 
			  Month of 2008  Tornado F3  Tornado GR4  Harrier  Typhoon 
			 April 12 11 12 17 
			 May 10 11 9 15 
			 June 13 10 9 15 
			 July 11 9 10 15 
			 August 11 9 9 11 
			 September 10 11 14 15 
			 October 10 10 12 14 
			 November 9 8 7 14 
			 December 5 6 5 7 
		
	
	We expect to fly less over the winter months as a result of stations standing down over the festive season and adverse weather conditions affecting planned flights.
	The hours for Hawk training aircraft have not been included as these aircraft are not used on Operations.
	I apologise for the delay in replying and any inconvenience caused.

Appeals: Disability Living Allowance

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what percentage of appeals against a refusal to award disability living allowance to young people with autism have been upheld in each year since 2001.

Bridget Prentice: The First-tier TribunalSocial Security and Child Support (SSCS) does not keep the information which the hon. Member requested in a readily available format. This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	The following disability living allowance data are available:
	
		
			  Numbers of disability living allowance appeals 
			   Appeals cleared at hearing( 1)  Decisions against the appellant  Percentage decision against  Decisions in favour of the appellant  Percentage decision in favour 
			 2001-02 78,169 35,674 45.6 41,623 53.2 
			 2002-03 71,034 31,606 44.5 38,598 54.3 
			 2003-04 71,800 33,590 46.8 37,223 51.8 
			 2004-05 73,211 34,924 47.7 37,183 50.8 
			 2005-06 71,125 34,363 48.3 35,495 49.9 
			 2006-07 63,727 (2) (2) 30,144 47.3 
			 2007-08 58,842 30,813 52.4 26,974 45.8 
			 2008-09 54,645 30;131 55.1 23,594 43.2 
			 (1) In addition to decisions 'in favour' and 'against', this includes cases that have been withdrawn, postponed or adjourned. (2) Data not available. Only limited data are available for 2006-07 as there was a change-over between computer systems during the year which has left an overlap in records which cannot be reconciled.

Closed Circuit Television

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance the Information Commissioner has provided to local authorities on the use of CCTV cameras fitted with microphones.

Michael Wills: The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the UK's independent authority established to promote access to official information and to protect personal data.
	The ICO has not issued guidance specifically for local authorities on the operation of CCTV cameras. However, the Office published a revised edition of its CCTV code of practice in 2008. The code offers guidance to all operators of CCTV cameras to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).
	In addition, the ICO provides guidance to any data controller in response to specific queries; such queries could include the operation of CCTV cameras.

Legal Aid

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what changes to the criteria for eligibility for legal aid for civil cases have been made since May 1997.

Bridget Prentice: On 1 April 2000, the Access to Justice Act 1999 came into force and established the community legal service (CLS) in place of the previous civil legal aid scheme. The financial eligibility criteria for legal help and for legal representation through the CLS were set out in the Community Legal Service (Financial) Regulations 2000, which came into force on 1 April 2000. The financial criteria were substantially amended by the Community Legal Service (Financial) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations 2001, which came into force on 3 December 2001. This brought about the simplification of the means test, with the introduction of a gross income limit and disposable income calculation based on a small number of targeted allowances. The financial eligibility limits are increased from time to time in line with inflation. From April 2005, the income limits for legal help and legal representation were aligned. At the same time the disposable capital limit for legal help was increased from 3,000 to 8,000, and we allowed the disposable income limit to be waived for victims of domestic violence seeking protection from harm. From 9 April 2007 we extended this so that both income and capital limits could be waived for these domestic violence victims. On 6 April 2009 we increased the financial eligibility limits for civil legal aid by 5 per cent.

Legal Aid

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much has been spent in  (a) cash terms and  (b) real terms on legal aid for civil cases in each year since 1996-97.

Bridget Prentice: The information requested is shown in the following table, however, expenditure for 2008-09 is provisional. The figures do not include administration costs. The real terms expenditure is based on 2008-09 prices.
	
		
			   million 
			   Total cash civil legal aid expenditure  Real terms expenditure 
			 1996-97 807 1,073 
			 1997-98 793 1,028 
			 1998-99 836 1,061 
			 1999-2000 769 957 
			 2000-01 792 973 
			 2001-02 735 883 
			 2002-03 813 946 
			 2003-04 898 1,017 
			 2004-05 846 932 
			 2005-06 831 899 
			 2006-07 809 850 
			 2007-08 844 862 
			 2008-09 913 913

Legal Services Commission

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will discuss with the Legal Services Commission the incidence of solicitors paying referral fees to other solicitors for advocacy work under the Advocates' Graduated Fee Scheme.

Bridget Prentice: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is currently investigating a small number of specific allegations that have been made about referral fees. The LSC will continue to investigate any specific issues brought to its attention, and will respond appropriately if a firm has breached the terms of its contract with the LSC.

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to reply to the hon. Member for Walsall North's letter of 26 May 2009 concerning a constituent.

Bridget Prentice: My noble Friend, Lord Bach, replied on 30 June. I apologise for the delay.

Official Documents

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reasons the Government have not signed the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents.

Michael Wills: The UK Government must be satisfied that their laws are compatible with the provisions of the Convention before they can make any decision to sign and then ratify the Convention.
	On 10 June 2009, the Prime Minister announced that the UK Government intended to reduce the time taken to open official records to the public from 30 to 20 years, and to make two amendments to the exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to ensure that information access arrangements allow essential constitutional relationships and conventions to be preserved. These proposed amendments would have an impact upon our freedom of information legislation and so must first be carefully assessed.
	The UK's freedom of information regime is among the most open and rigorous in the world. It already goes further than the standards of the Convention in a number of areas.

Prison Accommodation

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent steps his Department has taken to improve conditions in prisons.

Jack Straw: The National Offender Management Service has a statutory duty to hold all prisoners in decent conditions.
	As part of our commitment to increase the capacity of the prison estate to 96,000 places, we are building new prisons and expanding existing prisons. The new buildings produced by this capacity programme are providing modern accommodation that is fully compliant with relevant standards such as the new safer cell specification.
	In addition, on 27 April I announced that, instead of building three 2,500 place Titan prisons, we plan to build five 1,500 place prisons. Our model will draw on best practice in the existing estate to provide first class regimes that will help offenders address their offending behaviour. The 7,500 places provided by these new prisons will allow for the closure of some of the most worn out places.
	These measures support our aim, not only to provide additional capacity, but to modernise the estate and improve the quality of accommodation.
	For existing accommodation, we have a rolling programme of refurbishment that allows the critical maintenance of the estate to be undertaken.

Probation: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding his Department has allocated to Essex Probation Service for each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: The grant allocation to Essex probation area for the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			   Grant allocation  to Essex probation area  () 
			 2008-09 20,147,000 
			 2007-08 19,091,000 
			 2006-07 18,322,000 
			 2005-06 16,923,000 
			 2004-05 15,494,000

Probation: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the rate of  (a) absence and  (b) absence resulting from injury at work was among Probation Service employees in (i) Essex and (ii) Castle Point in each of the last five years; what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of such absences; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: Sickness absence in Essex probation area and absence due to injury at work over the last five years is detailed in the table. Costs are calculated on average pay and include on-costs:
	
		
			  April to March each year  All of Essex  (days per FTE)  Cost  ()  Absence due to injury at work and cost 
			 2004-05 12 592,000 0 
			 2005-06 11 569,000 0 
			 2006-07 10 542,000 20 days total 2,500 
			 2007-08 13 717,000 25 days total 2,500 
			 2008-09 8 471,000 12 days total 1,200 
		
	
	There are no staff assigned specifically to the Castle Point area, and therefore only figures for the whole of the county of Essex have been provided.

Reparation by Offenders

David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what  (a) monitoring and  (b) research his Department has carried out into the effects of the introduction of high-visibility jackets for offenders on unpaid work.

Maria Eagle: Distinctive clothing in the form of orange high visibility jackets for offenders undertaking Community Payback work was introduced in December 2008 as one of the measures to respond to the recommendations of the report Engaging Communities in Fighting Crime.
	Since its introduction in December 2008, the level of use of this distinctive clothing has been monitored. This monitoring is on a quarterly basis and by the end of March 2009 over 400,000 hours of Community Payback work were undertaken by offenders wearing the distinctive clothing. The figures for the next quarter should be available by the end of July.
	Home Office polling shows that nationally awareness of Community Payback has risen from 49 per cent. in November 2008 to 74 per cent. in April 2009.

Terrorism: Prisons

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to paragraph 8.05 of the United Kingdom's Strategy for Countering International Terrorism, published in March 2009, what arrangements have been put in place in prisons within the high security estate in England and Wales for the collection of intelligence relating to prisoners suspected or convicted of terrorist-related activities or extremism.

Jack Straw: The arrangements for gathering intelligence relating to terrorism or extremism in prisons are the same as those for receiving intelligence on any security matter, namely security information reports submitted by prison staff who are already in place carrying out their normal day to day duties.
	High security establishments have staff within their security departments whose role it is to monitor and assess intelligence that has been received relating to terrorism and extremism.

Alcoholic Drinks: Death

James Brokenshire: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many  (a) men and  (b) women aged  (a) under 20,  (b) between 21 and 30,  (c) between 31 and 40,  (d) between 41 and 50,  (e) between 51 and 60 and  (f) 61 years and above died from an underlying cause which was alcohol-related in each of the last 10 years.

Angela Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, July 2009:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many  (a) men and  (b) women aged  (a) under 20,  (b) between 21 and 30,  (c) between 31 and 40,  (d) between 41 and 50,  (e) between 51 and 60 and  (f) 61 years and above died from an underlying cause which was alcohol-related in each of the last 10 years. (284844)
	The table attached provides the number of deaths with an alcohol-related underlying cause for  (a) men and  (b) women aged (i) under 21,(1) (ii) 21 - 30, (Hi) 31 - 40, (iv) 41 - 50, (v) 51 - 60 and (vi) 61 years and over, in England and Wales, from 1999 to 2008 (the latest year available).
	(1) The specified age group 'under 20' has been amended to '20 and under' so as not to exclude deaths at age 20 from the table.
	
		
			  Table 1: Number of deaths with an alcohol-related underlying cause( 1) , England and Wales( 2) , 1999 to 2008( 3,4) 
			Deaths 
			1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			  Males Under 21 5 6 13 2 7 5 9 3 2 8 
			  21-30 51 54 63 69 58 57 59 65 66 72 
			  31-40 354 339 403 409 441 392 379 410 412 477 
			  41-50 834 865 961 946 1,048 1,021 1,034 1,112 1,087 1,141 
			  51-60 980 1,023 1,134 1,117 1,291 1,287 1,363 1404 1452 1471 
			  61+ 1,161 1,166 1,268 1,334 1,413 1,458 1,524 1,562 1,559 1,671 
			  Females Under 21 5 2 1 0 3 2 2 1 2 0 
			  21-30 23 36 26 25 34 28 28 35 42 25 
			  31-40 199 194 182 175 207 206 201 219 212 207 
			  41-50 442 411 486 516 466 505 523 566 548 551 
			  51-60 482 516 541 522 591 628 636 658 688 712 
			  61+ 751 794 815 851 865 899 865 929 971 1,006 
			 (1) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1999 to 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for 2001 onwards. The specific causes of death categorised as alcohol-related, and their corresponding ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes, are shown in the boxes below. (2) Figures for England and Wales include deaths of non-residents. (3) Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year. (4) Figures for deaths registered in 2008 are provisional. 
		
	
	
		
			  Box 1. Alcohol-related causes of deathInternational Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) 
			  Cause of death  ICD-9 code(s) 
			 Alcoholic psychoses 291 
			 Alcohol dependence syndrome 303 
			 Non-dependent abuse of alcohol 305.0 
			 Alcoholic cardiomyopathy 425.5 
			 Alcoholic fatty liver 571.0 
			 Acute alcoholic hepatitis 571.1 
			 Alcoholic cirrhosis of liver 571.2 
			 Alcoholic liver damage, unspecified 571.3 
			 Chronic hepatitis 571.4 
			 Cirrhosis of Over without mention of alcohol 571.5 
			 Other chronic nonalcoholic liver disease 571.8 
			 Unspecified chronic Over disease without mention of alcohol 571.9 
			 Accidental poisoning by alcohol E860 
		
	
	
		
			  Box 2. Alcohol-related causes of death International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) 
			  Cause of death  ICD-10 code(s) 
			 Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol F10 
			 Degeneration of nervous system due to alcohol G31.2 
			 Alcoholic polyneuropathy G62.1 
			 Alcoholic cardiomyopathy 142.6 
			 Alcoholic gastritis K29.2 
			 Alcoholic liver disease K70 
			 Chronic hepatitis, not elsewhere classified K73 
			 Fibrosis and cirrhosis of liver (excl. Biliary cirrhosis) K74 (excl.K74.3-K74.5) 
			 Alcohol induced chronic pancreatitis K86.0 
			 Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol X45 
			 Intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to alcohol X65 
			 Poisoning by and exposure to alcohol, undetermined intent Y15

Charity Commission: Information

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many requests for communications data were made by the Charity Commission to communication service providers (CSPs) under the Charities Act 1993 in  (a) 2000,  (b) 2001,  (c) 2002,  (d) 2003,  (e) 2004,  (f) 2005,  (g) 2006,  (h) 2007 and  (i) 2008; and how many of these requests resulted in the requested communications data being disclosed by the relevant CSP.

Angela Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission to reply.
	 Letter from Andrew Hind, dated July 2009:
	As the Chief Executive of the Charity Commission, I have been asked to respond to your written Parliamentary Question on requests for communications data made by the Charity Commission to communication service providers under the Charities Act 1993.
	Section 9 of the Charities Act (1993) provides the Charity Commission with the power to require anyone who has information which is relevant to the discharge of any of the Commission's functions to provide us with that information. This power extends to relevant documents. The Charity Commission also has a specific power, when we are conducting an inquiry, to require the production of accounts, statements in writing, written answers to questions, and copy documents from anyone who is able to provide them (section 8 of the Charities Act).
	To date the Commission has not kept statistics on the use of these powers to obtain communications data from communication service providers. However, since the enactment of the Regulation of Investigative Powers Act (RIPA) in 2000, it has been the general practice for regulators, such as the Charity Commission, and communications service providers to exchange information under RIPA requirements. Since 2000, the Charity Commission has used the RIPA to obtain communications data eight times:
	(a) 2000 nil
	(b) 2001 nil
	(c) 2002 nil
	(d) 2003 nil
	(e) 2004 2 times
	(f) 2005 3 times
	(g) 2006 nil
	(h) 2007 3 times
	(i) 2008 nil
	On all of these occasions the requests for communications data was acceded to by the service provider.
	In all cases the information obtained was used to progress our statutory investigations. We only use these powers when absolutely necessary and in the most serious of cases. Their use is always authorised at a senior level within the Commission.
	I hope this is helpful. A senior member of the Commission's Compliance team would be very happy to discuss this aspect of our work with you if that would be useful.

Life Expectancy

Michael Penning: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate she has made of the life expectancy of  (a) women and  (b) men in England in each of the last 10 years.

Angela Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated July 2009 :
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what estimate has been made of the life expectancy of (a) women and (b) men in England in each of the last 10 years. (284747)
	Life expectancy figures are calculated as three year rolling averages. The table below provides the period life expectancy at birth for (a) women and (b) men in England, for 1996-98 to 2005-07 (the latest figures available).
	
		
			  Table 1: Period life expectancy at birth( 1) , England, 1996-98 to 2005-07( 2) 
			   Y ears of life 
			   Females  Males 
			 1996-98 80 75 
			 1997-99 80 75 
			 1998-2000 80 75 
			 1999-2001 80 76 
			 2000-02 81 76 
			 2001-03 81 76 
			 2002-04 81 77 
			 2003-05 81 77 
			 2004-06 82 77 
			 2005-07 82 78 
			 (1) Period life expectancy at birth is an estimate of the average number of years a newborn baby would survive if he or she experienced the area's age-specific mortality rates for that time period throughout his or her life. The figure reflects mortality among those living in the area in each time period, rather than mortality among those born in each area. It is not therefore the number of years a baby born in the area in each time period could actually expect to live, both because the death rates of the area are likely to change in the future and because many of those born in die area will live elsewhere for at least some part of their lives. (2) Three year rolling averages, based on deaths registered in each year and mid-year population estimates.

Third Sector

Nick Hurd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what progress has been made in implementing the recommendations of the 2002 cross-cutting review on the voluntary and community sector conducted by HM Treasury; and if she will make a statement.

Angela Smith: In June 2005, the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report assessing the Government's progress in implementing the 2002 cross-cutting review on the voluntary and community sector conducted by HM Treasury. The report found that the recommendations of the cross-cutting review had been addressed but outlined 12 further recommendations. All of these have been taken forward via the subsequent creation of the Office of the Third Sector and in the 2007 Third Sector Review.

Energy Supply

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps the Board of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority has taken to protect consumers.

David Kidney: The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority [GEMA] has, as its principal objective, the protection of the interests of present and future consumers. It governs the independent gas and electricity regulatory body, Ofgem. I have, therefore, asked Lord Mogg, GEMA chairman, to reply direct to the hon. Member's question.

Nuclear Power Stations: Accidents

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what contingency plans are in place to deal with serious nuclear incidents.

Joan Ruddock: All nuclear installations in the UK have detailed emergency plans in order to respond to an accident or emergency that could occur on the site. The on and off-site plans are tested on a regular basis. Testing of the emergency plans is assessed by teams of inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive's nuclear installations inspectorate. Annually, one of the nuclear licensed site off-site emergency plans is chosen to test not only the regional response to an emergency but also test the wider arrangements to involve central Government, including the exercising of the various Government Departments and agencies.

Nuclear Power Stations: Inspections

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how frequently inspections are made of the cooling ponds used to store nuclear fuel rods at each location in the UK.

David Kidney: The nuclear installations inspectorate (NII) of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) monitors and reviews the effectiveness of the licensee's activities and compliance with safety requirements on nuclear licensed sites including the routine inspection of activities related to the fuel route which includes fuel ponds. Additionally, the Environment Agencies in England and Wales and Scotland inspect facilities to ensure compliance with the relevant environment legislation.
	The frequency of future inspections is adjusted according to the outcome of the findings of the inspectors from the HSE and the Environment Agencies.

Ofgem: Complaints

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what terms of reference were given to PKF in respect of its work for Ofgem on complaints handling; and what fees were paid to the company for that work.

David Kidney: The fees paid to PKF in respect of its work for Ofgem on complaints handling, amounted to 93,378.24 (exclusive of VAT). A copy of the Terms of Reference given to PKF have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Ofgem: Opinion Leader Research

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much Ofgem has paid to Opinion Leader Research  (a) in each of the last five years and  (b) in 2009-10 to date.

David Kidney: Ofgem paid the following amounts exclusive of VAT to Opinion Leader Research in the five years prior to 2009-10:
	
		
			
			 2008-09 46,699 
			 2007-08 0 
			 2006-07 0 
			 2005-06 0 
			 2004-05 0 
		
	
	During 2009-10, Ofgem has to date paid 60,775.02 exclusive of VAT to Opinion Leader Research.

Ofgem: Opinion Leader Research

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what process was used to select Opinion Leader Research to conduct work on Ofgem's Consumer First Panel.

David Kidney: The Consumer First Panel was competitively tendered under Ofgem's framework for market research services and was compliant with Official Journal of the European Union regulations and processes.

Ofgem: Public Consultation

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what payments Ofgem has made to the members of its  (a) Consumer Challenge Panel and  (b) Consumer First Panel in the last 12 months.

David Kidney: In the last 12 months, Ofgem has made payments totalling 29,384.80 (exclusive of VAT) to members of its Consumer Challenge Panel.
	Members of the Consumer First Panel are entitled to a payment of 50 per meeting attended. Payments are made by Opinion Leader Research as part of its contract with Ofgem. During the last 12 months, there have been three panel meetings held. The attendance at those meetings was 99, 90 and 83 respectively.

Renewable Energy: Manufacturing Industries

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the proportion of heat derived from renewable sources  (a) generated and  (b) consumed by each industrial sector in each year since 2005.

David Kidney: holding answer 29 June 2009
	 The Government collect statistics on renewable heat generation in total (c.f. Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) 2008, table 7.6 renewable sources used to generate electricity and heat and for transport fuels) but these figures are not broken down across industrial sectors. This table shows that the total amount of renewable heat generated across the UK economy was 8.48 TWh in 2007 (most recent year available), 7.51 TWh in 2006 and 6.97 TWh in 2005.
	Renewable heat is also produced by combined heat and power (CHP) plants that use renewable fuels, and the data on theseon a whole-economy basisare presented in table 6.6 of DUKES. This shows that in 2007 out of a total of 53,050 GWh of heat generated by CHP plants in the UK 992 GWh came from those using renewable fuels i.e. almost 2 per cent. A significant percentage of these plants will be within the industrial sector.
	The September 2008 edition of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's 'Energy Trends' publication had a special feature Estimates of Heat Use in the UK focusing on 2006. The figure for heat consumption by manufacturing industry(1) for that year was given (table 4) as 216 TWh [or 18,577 ktoe(2)], and it was noted that this did not include '2.3 TWh [198 ktoe] of renewable fuels (predominantly used for renewable heat)'. This would equate (assuming 100 per cent. heat use) to around 1.0 per cent. of total heat demand for this sector being met from renewable sources.
	(1) The definition of manufacturing industry used did not include mining and quarrying, recycling, the collection, purification and distribution of water, and construction.
	(2) Kilotonnes of oil equivalent. DUKES uses this unit; 1 tonne oil equivalent = 11.63 MWh.

Dental Services

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to encourage dentists who provide NHS services to take on additional NHS patients.

Ann Keen: It is for primary care trusts (PCTs) to assess the local demand for national health service dentistry, and commission appropriate services to meet it.
	All 10 strategic health authorities have set themselves the aim of providing access to NHS dentistry for all who seek it by March 2011 at the latest. We are supporting PCTs to meet this aim with extra resourcesan 11 per cent. uplift in our dental funding allocations for 2008-09, and a further 8.5 per cent. uplift in total funds for 2009-10, which takes the total available for dental allocations to 2,257 million (net of patient charge income).
	We have also set up an expanded national dental access programme, headed by Dr. Mike Warburton an experienced clinician and manager, to support managers and clinicians to rapidly expand services where needed.
	NHS dental service in England: An independent review led by Professor Jimmy Steele, published on 22 June recommends a series of further actions to support access and quality, including how to structure the dental contract to further support dentists to take on new patients. Piloting of the recommendations will begin from this autumn. This report has already been placed in the Library and is also available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_101137

Dental Services

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make an assessment of the effect on the level of demand for NHS dental services of the economic downturn.

Ann Keen: It is for primary care trusts (PCTs) to assess local demand for national health services dental services, taking into account all factors which are likely to affect this, and commission the appropriate services.
	All 10 strategic health authorities have set themselves the aim of providing access to NHS dentistry for all who seek it by March 2011 at the latest. We are supporting PCTs to meet this aim with extra resourcesan 11 per cent. uplift in our dental funding allocations for 2008-09, and a further 8.5 per cent. uplift in total funds for 2009-10, which takes the total available for dental allocations to 2,257 million (net of patient charge income).
	We have also set up an expanded national dental access programme, headed by Dr. Mike Warburton an experienced clinician and manager, to support managers and clinicians to rapidly expand services where needed. New practices are opening regularly as a result of the new funding and focus. NHS dental services are expanding and therefore in a strong position to meet any extra demand that may result from the economic downturn.
	NHS dental service in England: An independent review led by Professor Jimmy Steele, published on 22 June recommends a series of further actions to support access and quality. Piloting of the recommendations will begin from this autumn. This report has already been placed in the Library and is also available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_101137

Drugs: Misuse

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding has been provided to people resident in Hemel Hempstead by the National Treatment Agency in each of the last five years; and how much has been allocated in the next two years.

Gillian Merron: The Government provide specific resources for drug treatment in the form of the pooled drug treatment budget (PTB), administered by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, which combined with local mainstream funding results in substantial investment in local drug treatment funding.
	The PTB is allocated to local drug partnerships and figures for the Hertfordshire Drug and Alcohol Team are as follows:
	
		
			   Funding () 
			 2005-06 4,120,026 
			 2006-07 4,933,918 
			 2007-08 5,025,733 
			 2008-09 4,961,579 
			 2009-10 4,976,990 
		
	
	The projected PTB allocation for 2010-11 is 4,704,952. However, the exact allocation is dependent on partnership performance and will not be confirmed until January 2010. Figures for 2011-12 are not yet available.
	Until 2008-09 PTB was allocated against a basket of indicators of social and economic deprivation known to reflect drug use as the best available proxy of treatment need.
	Differences in performance between drug partnerships in getting people into treatment were resulting in unjustifiable variations in the size of the central contribution to the costs of each person's treatment.
	2009-10 is the second year of a process which seeks to produce a fairer allocation system which more accurately matches need, activity and resources.
	The new process is based on three elements:
	25 per cent. of the allocation is based on the indicators underpinning the previous formula to reflect the differential cost of responding to different levels of complex need such as homelessness, mental heath, family breakdown and unemployment;
	75 per cent. is based on activity in the treatment system with areas being allocated a set amount per person treated effectively; and
	The final element is an area cost adjustment figure to reflect the varying costs of delivering services in different parts of the country.
	To promote an orderly alteration to service planning, the change is being introduced over three years.

Hearing Impaired: Sight Impaired

David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many communicator-guides there were  (a) in 1997 and  (b) on the most recent date for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many deafblind people there were in England  (a) in 1997 and  (b) at the most recent date for which figures are available.

Phil Hope: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care does not collect information centrally about the numbers of communicator guides.
	In 2001 guidance was issued to councils regarding the recording of deafblind registration. Where a person had a number of additional disabilities including deaf or hard of hearing, councils were advised to count these under the category of deaf and hard of hearing. Therefore in 1997, there may have been some people with multiple disabilities who may have been categorised as having a mental illness, learning or physical disabilities rather than in the categories deaf or hard of hearing.
	Registration of blindness is voluntary and so the registers cannot be thought of as providing a definitive number of blind and partially sighted people. In addition, issuing of guidance such as that mentioned above may impact on the numbers and therefore, figures for 2003 (first collection after the guidance was issued) have also been provided in the following tables.
	The following tables show the total number of people in England registered as blind or partially sighted who also have an additional hearing related disability.
	
		
			  Number of people registered blind who also have a hearing impairment, as at 31 March 1997, 2003 and 2008, England( 1) 
			  Rounded numbers with additional disability of 
			O f which :  
			   Deaf  with speech  without speech  Hard of hearing 
			 1997 1,010 280 735 2,835 
			 2003 2,825 (2)n/a (2)n/a 5,640 
			 2008 3,565 2,830 735 8,685 
			 (1) Estimates have not been made where a council has not been able to provide the information separately for those with an additional disability, therefore the table contains the total only from those councils from which returns were received. (2) Data not available.  Notes: 1. Figures for 1997 are based on actual returns received from 85 councils out of 119. Figures for 2003 are based on actual returns received from 131 councils out of 150. Figures for 2008 are based on actual returns received from 149 councils out of 150. 2. Data rounded to the nearest 5.  Source: SSDA 902 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of people registered partially sighted who also have a hearing impairment, as at 31 March 1997, 2003 and 2008, England( 1) 
			  R ounded numbers with additional disability of 
			Of  which :  
			   Deaf  with speech  without speech  Hard of  h earing 
			 1997 (2)n/a (2)n/a (2)n/a (2)n/a 
			 2003 1,830 (2)n/a (2)n/a 5,205 
			 2008 3,710 2,205 1,505 9,315 
			 (1) Estimates have not been made where a council has not been able to provide the information separately for those with an additional disability, therefore the table contains the total only from those councils from which returns were received. (2) Data not available.  Notes: 1. Figures for 2003 are based on actual returns received from 127 councils out of 150. Figures for 2008 are based on actual returns received from 149 councils out of 150. 2. Data rounded to the nearest 5.  Source:  SSDA 902

Lung Cancer

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what further steps his Department is taking to improve the provision of treatment to those who have been diagnosed with or treated for lung cancer; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to increase the level of support provided to those affected by lung cancer; and if he will make a statement.

Ann Keen: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance on the use of erlotinib for the treatment of lung cancer. NICE is also currently preparing guidance on the use of pemetrexed, topotecan and vandetanib for the treatment of lung cancer as well as further guidance on the use of erlotinib.
	In 2005, NICE issued clinical guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer, which addressed supportive and palliative care for lung cancer patients. An updated version of the guidelines is due to be published in 2011. These guidelines complement the guidance on Improving Outcomes in Lung Cancer, published in 1998, which has since been fully implemented across the national health service.
	Alongside NICE'S work programme on lung cancer, the Department will shortly be reconvening the Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma Advisory Group (LCAMAG) to further advise the National Cancer Director, Professor Mike Richards, and the department on the development and delivery of high quality services for lung cancer patients in England.
	In addition, the National Lung Cancer Audit, part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcome Programme, helps clinicians improve the quality and outcomes of lung cancer services. It provides comparative data about the incidence, nature and treatment of lung cancer, with the aim of improving patient care and outcomes.

NHS: Assets

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the  (a) gross internal floor area,  (b) unoccupied internal floor area and  (c) non-patient occupied internal floor area was, according to data from Estates Return Information Collection returns, for each NHS organisation in each year since 1997.

Mike O'Brien: The information is not available in the precise format requested.
	Since 2000-01, the Department has collected annual data on internal floor areas from national health service trusts through the Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC). Data collection on each NHS organisation's gross internal floor area and unoccupied internal floor area first began in 2000-01, with non-patient occupied floor area beginning in 2002-03.
	The available data for each year since 2000-01 have been placed in the Library.
	The information provided has been supplied by the NHS and had not been amended centrally. The accuracy and completeness of the information is the responsibility of the provider organisation.

NHS: Finance

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  pursuant to the NHS Chief Executive's Annual Report for 2008-09, whether the 15 to 20 billion in efficiency savings the NHS is expected to plan for in the financial years 2011-12 to 2013-14 will be made available for expenditure in the NHS;
	(2)  what baseline for spending is being used against which to measure the 15 to 20 billion of efficiency savings for which the NHS is being asked to plan between the financial years 2011-12 and 2013-14; and what plans have been made for achieving such savings in each  (a) financial year and  (b) NHS organisation.

Mike O'Brien: Decisions on funding and investment will be made as part of the next spending review. The baseline for efficiency savings in the next spending review period will be 2010-11.

Solihull Hospital: Maternity Services

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) high-risk,  (b) complicated and  (c) premature births occurred at Solihull Hospital in the last 12 months; and what proportion of all births at the hospital each category represented in that period.

Ann Keen: The information is not available in the format requested.
	Solihull hospital is part of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust. Information on the number and percentage of deliveries at this organisation for 2007-08 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Number and percentage of deliveries where the gestation length at the time of delivery was between 0-36 weeks (premature), 37+ weeks or unknown at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (*RR1-X) in 2007-08 
			  National health service hospitals, England  Number  Percentage 
			 Total deliveries at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust 10,753 100 
			 Deliveries that occurred between 0-36 weeks of gestation (premature) 178 1.7 
			 Deliveries that occurred 37+ weeks of gestation 2,445 22.7 
			 Deliveries with an unknown length of gestation recorded 8,130 75.6 
			  Notes: 1. The high proportion of deliveries with an unknown length of gestation recorded needs to be taken into account when interpreting the rates of deliveries for each gestation group. 2.  Length of gestation: This field shows the number of completed weeks of gestation according to the World Health Organisation definition, which specifies time from the first day of the last menstrual period. If this date is not reliable, an estimate is provided. This item appears for each baby on multiple birth delivery records; 0-36 weeks premature birth; 37+ weeks (includes post term births); and unknown. 3.  Finished consultant episode (FCE): An FCE is defined as a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. However, the figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year. Maternity events taking place in either NHS hospitals or in non-NHS hospitals funded by the NHS will be recorded as ordinary 'delivery' or 'birth' episodes. 'Other delivery events' are delivery events other than those resulting in delivery or birth episodes under NHS funding or in any other facility supplied under a service agreement with the NHS. 4.  Ungrossed data: Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed). 5.  Data quality: HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. Data are also received from a number of independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. 6.  Hospital providers: A provider code is a unique code that identifies an organisation acting as a health care provider (e.g. NHS trust or PCT). Hospital providers can also include treatment centres (TC). TCs (also known as diagnostic centres) provide elective (planned) surgery for a range of conditions, mainly for day surgery or short-term hospital stay patients. Some TCs are attached to hospital trusts and HES enables data for these to be separately identified from the rest of the health care provider's data. It does this by adding TC to the trust code; if there is more than one per trust, 'T1', 'T2', 'T3' etc. are suggested unless already in use by the trust. Activity performed in the remainder of the trust is identified by the health care provider code being followed by an 'X'.  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care.

Swine Flu

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the Statement of 12 June 2009,  Official Report, columns 1052-63, on swine flu update, with which companies his Department holds advance purchase agreements for pandemic-specific vaccines; how much he expects to be spent on these vaccines; and from which budget funds for such expenditure will be drawn in the next 12 months.

Gillian Merron: The advance purchase agreements are with Glaxo Smith Kline and Baxter. The costs of the advance purchase agreements are 155.4 million over four years. Vaccine costs are commercial in confidence. Expenditure on dealing with swine flu will be met from within existing departmental budgets.

Swine Flu

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many swine flu information leaflets have been  (a) printed and  (b) distributed; and how much his Department has spent on their printing and distribution to date.

Gillian Merron: The Department has:
	produced around 31.6 million swine flu information leaflets, including foreign language translations and alternative formats for disabled people; and
	distributed over 29,136,529 leaflets.
	The Department has spent 4,470,406 to date on production and distribution.

Swine Flu

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital patient specimens have been submitted to Health Protection Agency regional laboratories in order to be tested for swine flu to date.

Gillian Merron: The Health Protection Agency's regional laboratory network has tested 23,395 samples up to the end of 30 June 2009. 83 of the samples that tested positive for swine flu came from hospitalised patients.

Swine Flu

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have accessed NHS Direct's online swine flu symptom checker to date; and how much was spent developing this service.

Gillian Merron: The number of people who have accessed NHS Direct's on-line cold and flu symptom checker (which has included swine flu since 27 April 2009) is 707,583 (as of 30 June 2009).
	The symptom checker service is integrated into NHS Direct's contact centre operations and is used for a wider range of topics than just colds and flu. The approximate cost of developing the whole suite of tools (not just specifically the colds and flu element) was 367,000.

Local Government Finance

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much and what proportion of the funding allocated to his Department was allocated to local authorities in  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10.

Shahid Malik: The following tables give the amounts and proportions of my Department's funding to local authorities in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
	
		
			  Main programme ,  departmental expenditure limit (DEL) 
			   All figures  (  million ) 
			  Financial years  Communities and local government DEL  O f which :  funding to local authorities  P roportion of funding to local authorities  (percentage) 
			 2008-09 11,412 5,339 47 
			 2009-10 12,895 5,726 44 
			  Note: Figures exclude administration costs 
		
	
	
		
			  Local government ,  departmental expenditure limit (DEL) 
			   All figures  (  million ) 
			  Financial years  Local government DEL  O f  which:  funding to local authorities  P roportion of funding to local authorities  (percentage) 
			 2008-09 24,913 24,568 99 
			 2009-10 25,737 25,506 99 
			  Note: Proportion of funding allocated to local authorities in 2008-09 are outturn figures for both main and local government departmental expenditure limits.

Affordable Housing

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is on the development of innovative financing schemes to support the purchase of affordable housing.

John Denham: The Government's HomeBuy scheme helps purchasers who cannot afford to buy a home on the open market. We have recently introduced two innovative products into the HomeBuy range in response to the current difficulties which potential buyers are experiencing as a result of the restrictions on the global supply of credit.
	Our Rent to HomeBuy product allows households to rent a home from a housing association at below market rent for up to five years, enabling them to save for a deposit. The HomeBuy Direct scheme provides purchasers with an equity loan of up to 30 per cent. to purchase a newly built home from participating developers on specific sites. The loan is funded jointly by the developer and Government.

Commonhold and Leasehold Act 2002

Jacqui Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 11 June 2009,  Official Report, column 999W, on the Commonhold and Leasehold Act 2002, what informal discussions his Department has had with local authority officers on sections 152 and 153 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Act 2002 in the last two years; and if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's record of each such discussion.

Ian Austin: Officials attended the re-constituted London leasehold officers' forum on 6 January where an update on section 152 was provided. A meeting has since taken place with a working group from the forum on 12 May to discuss concerns and clarify certain proposal for the regulations. Officials continue to work with the forum to ensure that the regulations will benefit local authority leaseholders but without creating unnecessary burdens and costs.
	There was also the formal consultation exercise carried out in July 2007 to which some local authorities responded.

Departmental Press

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what  (a) newspapers and  (b) periodicals are delivered to the private office of each Minister in his Department; and at what cost in the latest period for which figures are available.

Shahid Malik: All information is for the last financial year (April 2008 to March 2009).
	(a) The then Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Salford (Hazel Blears) received the following newspapers:
	 The Daily Mail
	 The Daily Mirror
	 The Guardian
	 The Times
	 The Sun
	 The Independent
	 The Daily Express
	 The Financial Times
	 The Daily Telegraph
	 The Evening Standard (West End Final Extra)
	 The Evening Standard (West End Final)
	 The Evening Standard (1( st) Edition)
	 The Eastern Eye
	 The Daily Jang
	 The Jewish Chronicle
	 The Voice
	 New Nation
	 International Herald Tribune
	 Muslim Weekly
	The then Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Salford (Hazel Blears) received the following periodicals:
	 The Economist
	 The Spectator
	 The New Statesman
	 Prospect
	 The Municipal Journal
	 The Local Government Chronicle
	 The London Review of Books
	 Tribune
	 The Times Literary Supplement
	The then Minister for Housing, the right hon. Member for Derby, South (Margaret Beckett) and her predecessor the right hon. Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) received the following newspapers:
	 The Daily Mail
	 The Daily Mirror
	 The Guardian
	 The Times
	 The Sun
	 The Independent
	 The Daily Express
	 The Financial Times
	 The Daily Telegraph
	 The Evening Standard (West End Final)
	 Yorkshire Post
	The then Minister for Housing, the right hon. Member for Derby, South (Margaret Beckett) and her predecessor the right hon. Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) received the following periodicals
	 The Economist
	 The Spectator
	 The New Statesman
	The then Minister for Local Government, the right hon. Member for Wentworth (John Healey) received the following newspapers:
	 The Daily Mail
	 The Daily Mirror
	 The Guardian
	 The Times
	 The Sun
	 The Financial Times
	 The Evening Standard (West End Final)
	 Yorkshire Post
	The then Minister for Local Government, the right hon. Member for Wentworth (John Healey) received the following periodicals:
	 The Economist
	 The Spectator
	 The New Statesman
	 The Municipal Journal
	 The Local Government Chronicle
	 Tribune
	The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (the noble Baroness Lady Andrews) received the following newspapers:
	 The Daily Mail
	 The Daily Mirror
	 The Guardian
	 The Times
	 The Sun
	 The Independent
	 The Daily Express
	 The Financial Times
	 The Daily Telegraph
	 The Evening Standard (1( st) Edition)
	The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (the noble Baroness Lady Andrews) received the following periodicals:
	 The Economist
	 The Spectator
	 The New Statesman
	 Prospect
	 The Local Government Chronicle
	 Regeneration and Renewal
	 Planning Magazine
	The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Tooting (Mr. Khan) and his predecessor the hon. Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda) received the following newspapers:
	 The Daily Mail
	 The Daily Mirror
	 The Guardian
	 The Times
	 The Sun
	 The Daily Telegraph
	 The Evening Standard (West End Final Extra)
	 The Evening Standard (1( st) Edition)
	 The Eastern Eye
	 The Daily Jang
	 The Jewish Chronicle
	The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Tooting (Mr. Khan) and his predecessor the hon. Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda) received the following periodicals:
	 The New Statesman
	 The Municipal Journal
	 The Local Government Chronicle
	 Building
	The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Wright) received the following newspapers:
	 The Daily Mail
	 The Daily Mirror
	 The Guardian
	 The Times
	 The Sun
	 The Independent
	 The Financial Times
	 The Daily Telegraph
	 The Evening Standard (1( st) Edition)
	 The German Times (complimentary copy)
	The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Wright) received the following periodicals:
	 The Economist
	 Municipal Journal
	(b) The total costs recorded by the Department for newspapers and periodicals for all ministerial offices in the last financial year was 7,184.85.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what the planned change in expenditure by his Department is in each of the next three years, expressed in  (a) cash and  (b) percentage terms;
	(2)  how much funding has been allocated to his Department in each of the next three years.

Shahid Malik: The following tables set out the Department's allocation for the remaining two years of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) period and the planned changes in expenditure for those years.
	
		
			  Main programme ,  departmental expenditure limit (DEL) 
			  All figures  (  million ) 
			   Financial year 
			   2009-10  2010-11 
			 Resource 4,272 4,193 
			 Capital 8,623 6,348 
			 Total 12,895 10,541 
			  Note: Figures exclude administration costs. 
		
	
	These figures reflect over 1.5 billion of capital brought forward from 2010-11 to 2008-09 and 2009-10 through the September housing package and pre-Budget report. In addition to some reprofiling in 2009-10 and 2010-11, 555 million of capital was announced at Budget 2009.
	
		
			  Local government ,  departmental expenditure limit (DEL) 
			  All figures (  million ) 
			   Financial year 
			   2009-10  2010-11 
			 Resource 25,596 26,296 
			 Capital 106 92 
			 Total 25,702 26,388 
		
	
	For the 2007 CSR period, the planned changed in expenditure for the remaining years is as follows:
	
		
			   Main programme  Local government 
			 2009-10 ( million) 12,895 25,702 
			 2010-11 ( million) 10,541 26,388 
			 Cash term ( million) -2,354 +686 
			 Percentage term -18.3 +2.7

Departmental Public Expenditure

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding his Department has allocated to each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies for  (a) 2009-10 and  (b) each of the next three years.

Shahid Malik: Departmental expenditure limit (DEL) budgets for CLG's executive agencies and executive NDPBs planned for the CSR period in years 2009-10 and 2010-11 are as follows:
	
		
			   000 
			   2009-10  2010-11 
			  Executive Agencies   
			 Fire Service College 0 0 
			 Planning Inspectorate 56,697 52,594 
			 Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre 0 0 
			  Executive NDPBs   
			 Community Development Foundation 1,706 1,590 
			 Firebuy 1,582 0 
			 Homes and Communities Agency 5,218,435 3,969,121 
			 Independent Housing Ombudsman 0 0 
			 Leasehold Advisory Service 1,325 1,450 
			 London Thames Gateway Development Corporation 46,300 46,500 
			 Standards Board for England 8,275 7,869 
			 Tenant Services Authority 35,623 35,173 
			 Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation 36,200 35,600 
			 Valuation Tribunal Service 11,439 10,935 
			 West Northants Development Corporation 16,741 16,484

Fire Services: Equality

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding has been allocated to fire authorities for the purposes of meeting diversity and equality recruitment targets in each of the last five years.

Shahid Malik: No funding has been allocated to fire and rescue authorities for the purposes of meeting equality and diversity recruitment targets in each of the last five financial years.
	Communities and Local Government has allocated 2 million in total in capital grant for 2009-10 and 2010-11 to those fire and rescue authorities which make a commitment to recruitment targets both for women in the operational sector and for minority ethnic staff across all sectors of their workforce higher than those required by the Fire and Rescue Service equality and diversity strategy. Those fire and rescue authorities that have qualified for capital grant have committed to meet targets by 2013 for a minimum of 18 per cent. of new entrants to the operational service to be women and for recruitment of minority ethnic staff across the whole workforce to be at 2 - 5 per cent. above the minority ethnic representation in the local working population.
	Communities and Local Government has allocated 34,482 in capital grant for 2009-10 to each of 29 fire and rescue authorities that have committed to the higher recruitment targets.

Fire Services: Industrial Disputes

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what arrangements his Department has put in place for contingency fire cover in the event of a national fire fighters' strike.

Shahid Malik: The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 lays down duties for specified category 1 responders, including fire and rescue authorities, to assess, plan and advise in relation to emergencies. For a fire and rescue authority, an emergency includes a period of industrial action. Therefore the provision of contingency fire cover within a fire and rescue authority in the event of industrial action, is the responsibility of that fire and rescue authority, whether the dispute is local or national in extent.

Housing: Low Incomes

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the most recent round of bidding for HomeBuy Direct funding took place; and over what period he expects the next such round to take place.

John Healey: The Kickstart Housing Development Programme includes an element of HomeBuy Direct funding. The bidding round was launched on 8 May 2009 and closed on 8 June 2009.
	The Kickstart Housing Development Programme has been extended as announced in the Housing Pledgepart of Building Britain's Future and as a result there will be a further bidding round closing in autumn 2009. Details will be published shortly on the HCA website at:
	http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/

Housing: Low Incomes

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department has spent on the HomeBuy Direct scheme to date.

John Healey: As at the end of June the Department had spent 4,734,698 on HomeBuy Direct.

Influenza

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which public bodies are responsible for overseeing the preparations made by local authorities for an influenza pandemic.

Gillian Merron: I have been asked to reply.
	The Audit Commission is responsible for monitoring the performance of local authorities. This includes ensuring that they meet their statutory requirements of which preparing for emergencies is one. (The Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) 2004, requires local authorities to assess the risk of emergencies occurring and to maintain plans for managing these risks.)
	The Audit Commission works with partner inspectorates (i.e. HM Inspectorate for Constabularies, the Care Quality Inspectorate, HM Inspectorate of Prisons; HM Inspectorate of Probation and Ofsted) to assess the performance of local services in England through the Comprehensive Area Assessment. For those organisations that are inspected both sector specific and multi-agency performance is assessed. This includes assessment against National Indicator 37, which assesses how aware the general public are of what to do in the event of an emergency.
	The CCA Implementation team, within the Civil Contingencies Secretariat at the Cabinet Office, is responsible for running a CCA performance development and compliance work stream. An 'Expectation and Indicators of Good Practice Set for Category 1 and 2 Responders' has been published which sets out what is expected of those responsible for preparing for emergencies (including local authorities) and outlines mandatory requirements. This can be accessed through the United Kingdom resilience pages of the Cabinet Office website at:
	www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience/publications.aspx

Non-domestic Rates: Wind Power

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the rateable value per megawatt of generation capacity of  (a) on-shore and  (b) off-shore wind farms (i) is in 2009-10 and (ii) is expected to be in 2010-11.

Rosie Winterton: The rateable value for onshore wind farms in the 2005 rating lists ranges between 5,000 and 12,500 rateable value per megawatt of generation capacity.
	Individual draft rateable values for the 2010 rating lists will be published for consultation by the Valuation Office Agency at the end of September 2009.
	Offshore wind farms located beyond mean low water mark are not rateable.

Private Rented Housing: Pendle

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding his Department plans to provide to  (a) Pendle Borough Council and  (b) other housing providers in Pendle to improve standards of private sector housing in 2009-10.

Ian Austin: Pendle borough council was allocated 1,587,000 (one million, five hundred and eighty seven thousand pounds) in 2009-10 to improve private sector housing. Allocations are paid to local authorities through the regional housing pot as un-ring fenced capital grants based on recommendations made by the regional housing boards.

Public Lavatories: Disabled

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations he has received from groups representing disabled people on the adequacy of the level of provision by local authorities of public conveniences with disabled access.

Shahid Malik: The noble Lady, Baroness Andrews met representatives of the Changing Places Consortium on 13 January 2009 to discuss their campaign to promote specially equipped toilets for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities. Local authority provision of such toilets was discussed. The updated British Standard 'BS8300 Design of Buildings and their approaches to meet the need of disabled peopleCode of Practice', was published in March 2009, which includes expanded guidance on the design and provision of Changing Places facilities.
	In the last six months, this Department has received letters from members of the public about various aspects of local authority public toilet provision, but none from groups representing the interests of disabled people.

Social Rented Housing: Standards

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to change his planned expenditure on the Decent Homes programme for 2009-10 and 2010-11.

John Healey: The 1.5 billion Housing Pledge will provide additional expenditure for new affordable housing and related housing market provision as set out in Building Britain's Future. It is funded through contributions from other Government Departments and reprioritisation of CLG programmes.

Al-Muhajiroun

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has given to  (a) police forces and  (b) other authorities in dealing with members of al-Muhajiroun and related groups; and if he will make a statement.

David Hanson: No formal guidance has been provided to forces or other authorities in dealing with members of al-Muhajiroun.
	Al-Muhajiroun is not currently a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. However, two of its successor groupsAl Gurabaa and Saved/Saviour Sectare.
	The recently published CONTEST strategy document states that the Government will take action against those who defend terrorism and violent extremism. We will also continue to challenge views that jeopardise community cohesion

Alcoholic Drinks: Crime

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in the London Borough of Bexley aged  (a) under 18 and  (b) between 18 and 24 years old have been (i) cautioned and (ii) prosecuted for alcohol-related behaviour in each of the last five years.

Alan Campbell: The number of persons cautioned for alcohol related behaviour offences in Greater London, which includes the Metropolitan and City of London police force areas, by age group, from 2003 to 2007 (latest available) can be viewed in table 1. The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence.
	The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for alcohol related behaviour in Greater London, by age group, from 2003 to 2007 are given in table 2. The statistics in table 2 relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. For example, when a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
	A Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND) may also be issued by the police for certain alcohol related offences such as being drunk and disorderly and drunk in a highway. The number of persons issued with a PND for alcohol related behaviour offences in the Metropolitan and City of London police force areas, by age group, from 2004 to 2007 (latest available) are given in table 3. The PND Scheme was implemented in all 43 police force areas in England and Wales in 2004.
	Information held centrally is not available at local authority area. Data have been given in the tables for Greater London, which includes the City of London and Metropolitan police force areas, in which the London borough of Bexley is situated.
	Data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
	
		
			  Table 1: Number of persons cautioned for alcohol related behaviour offences( 1)  in Greater London (including the Metropolitan and City of London police force areas), by age group, 2003 to 2007( 2,3,4) 
			  Age  Total 
			  2003  
			 10 to 17 155 
			 18 to 24 142 
			   
			  2004  
			 10 to 17 103 
			 18 to 24 102 
			   
			  2005  
			 10 to 17 26 
			 18 to 24 87 
			   
			  2006  
			 10 to 17 9 
			 18 to 24 90 
			   
			  2007  
			 10 to 17 1 
			 18 to 24 141 
			 (1) Includes offences under the: Licensing Act 1872 s.12; Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc) Act 1985 ss.1(2)(3)(4) and 1A(2)(3)(4), 2(1)(2), 5B(2)(3), 5C(3)(4), 5D(2)(3), 6(2); Confiscation of Alcohol (Young Persons) Act 1997 s. 1; Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 ss.12, 17, 25(3)(a)(b), 25(4)(5), 32; Criminal Justice Act 1967 s.91; 
			 Licensing Act 1964 ss. 5C(5), 6, 6, 19, 28(3), 34, 36, 39(1)(2)(3)(4), 45, 48, 51(4), 53, 59(1)(a)(b), 71(4), 72, 84, 85(2), 89, 155(1)(a), 157(1)(a)(b), 157(1)(b), 159, 160,(1)(a)(b), 161(1)(2), 162, 163, 164(1)(2), 165, 166(1)(a)(b), 167, 168A, 168(1)(2), 169A, 169B, 169C(1)(2)(3), 169E(1), 169F, 169G, 170, 171A(1), 172, 172A, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179A(6), 179B(5)(6), 179E(8), 1791-1(2), 181A(1)(2)(3), 183(1)(2)(3), 184, 185, 186, 187(3)(4), 188, 193(7) Sch.8 Appendix C s. 6, Appendix D; Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000 s. 1; Licensing Act 2003 ss. 33, 40, 41, 46, 49, 56, 57, 59, 82, 83, 93, 94, 96, 108, 109, 123, 127, 128, 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 147A, 148, 149(1)(3)(4)(7(a)(b), 150(1)(2), 151, 152, 153, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 165, 168, 179, 197, Sch.8 paras 1 and 22; Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 ss. 11, 27; Road Traffic Act 1991 s. 3; Late Night Refreshment Houses Act 1969 ss. 7(2), 8, 9(1)(4), 10; Town Police Clauses Act 1847 ss. 35, 61; London Hackney Carriage Act 1843 s.28; Merchant Shipping Act 1995 s.101(1)(a)(b), (4) and (5); Licensing Act 1902 ss.2, 6(2)(a)(b); Similar provisions in Local Acts; Road Traffic Act ss.4(1)(2) s.5(1)(a)(b), s.6(4), s.7(6); Road Traffic Act 1988 ss. 3A, 7A as added by Police Reform Act 2002 s.56, Transport and Works Act 1992 S.31A as added by Police Reform Act 2002 s.52; Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983 s.3 [Sch. Para. 2, 3(a)(b), 4(1)(2)(3), 5, 6, 7, 8(2), 9(2)]; Licensing Act 1988 s. 17,18; Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994, s. 19; Children and Young Persons Act 1933 s. 5; Criminal Justice Act 1996 s. 6. (2) The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence. (3) From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and final warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. (4) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Office for Criminal Justice ReformEvidence and Analysis Unit 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for alcohol related behaviour offences( 1)  in Greater London (including the Metropolitan and City of London police force areas), by age group, 2003 to 2007( 2,3) 
			  Police force area 
			  Age  Total 
			  2003  
			 10 to 17 219 
			 18 to 24 3,244 
			   
			  2004  
			 10 to 17 187 
			 18 to 24 2,763 
			   
			  2005  
			 10 to 17 151 
			 18 to 24 2,730 
			   
			  2006  
			 10 to 17 92 
			 18 to 24 2,807 
			   
			  2007  
			 10 to 17 127 
			 18 to 24 2,600 
			 (1) Includes offences under the: Licensing Act 1872 s.12; Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc) Act 1985 ss.1(2)(3)(4) and 1A(2)(3)(4), 2(1)(2), 5B(2)(3), 5C(3)(4), 5D(2)(3), 6(2); Confiscation of Alcohol (Young Persons) Act 1997 s. 1; 
			 Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 ss.12, 17, 25(3)(a)(b), 25(4)(5), 32; Criminal Justice Act 1967 s.91; Licensing Act 1964 ss. 5C(5), 6, 6, 19, 28(3), 34, 36, 39(1)(2)(3)(4), 45, 48, 51(4), 53, 59(1)(a)(b), 71(4), 72, 84, 85(2), 89, 155(1)(a), 157(1)(a)(b), 157(1)(b), 159, 160,(1)(a)(b), 161(1)(2), 162, 163, 164(1)(2), 165, 166(1)(a)(b), 167, 168A, 168(1)(2), 169A, 169B, 169C(1)(2)(3), 169E(1), 169F, 169G, 170, 171A(1), 172, 172A, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179A(6), 179B(5)(6), 179E(8), 1791-1(2), 181A(1)(2)(3), 183(1)(2)(3), 184, 185, 186, 187(3)(4), 188, 193(7) Sch.8 Appendix C s. 6, Appendix D; Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000 s.1; Licensing Act 2003 ss. 33, 40, 41, 46, 49, 56, 57, 59, 82, 83, 93, 94, 96, 108, 109, 123, 127, 128, 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 147A, 148, 149(1)(3)(4)(7(a)(b), 150(1)(2), 151, 152, 153, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 165, 168, 179, 197, Sch.8 paras 1 and 22; Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 ss. 11,27; Road Traffic Act 1991 s. 3; Late Night Refreshment Houses Act 1969 ss. 7(2), 8, 9(1)(4), 10; Town Police Clauses Act 1847 ss. 35, 61; London Hackney Carriage Act 1843 s.28; Merchant Shipping Act 1995 s.101(1)(a)(b), (4) and (5); Licensing Act 1902 ss.2, 6(2)(a)(b); Similar provisions in Local Acts; Road Traffic Act ss.4(1)(2) s.5(1)(a)(b), s.6(4), s.7(6); Road Traffic Act 1988 ss. 3A, 7A as added by Police Reform Act 2002 s.56, Transport and Works Act 1992 S.31A as added by Police Reform Act 2002 s.52; Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983 s.3 [Sch. Para. 2, 3(a)(b), 4(1)(2)(3), 5, 6, 7, 8(2), 9(2)]; Licensing Act 1988 s. 17, 18; Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994, s. 19; Children and Young Persons Act 1933 s. 5; Criminal Justice Act 1996 s. 6. (2)These data are on the principal offence basis. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Office for Criminal Justice ReformEvidence and Analysis Unit 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Number of penalty notices for disorder given for alcohol related behaviour offences( 1,2)  in Greater London (including the Metropolitan and City of London police force areas), by age group, 2004 to 2007( 3) 
			  Police force area 
			  Age  Total 
			  2004  
			 16 to 17 62 
			 18 to 24 1,616 
			   
			  2005  
			 16 to 17 102 
			 18 to 24 1,305 
			   
			  2006  
			 16 to 17 100 
			 18 to 24 1,309 
			   
			  2007  
			 16 to 17 94 
			 18 to 24 1,399 
			 (1) Includes offences under the: Criminal Justice Act 1967 s. 91; Licensing Act 2003 s. 141, 146(1)(3), 149(1)(3)(4), 150(1)(2), 151; Licensing Act 1872 s. 12; Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 s. 12; (2) The offence of being 'drunk and disorderly' moved from the lower tier (50) to the upper tier (80) on 1 November 2004; Sale of alcohol to a person under 18, Purchasing alcohol for a person under 18, Delivery of alcohol to a person under 18 or allowing such delivery, Consumption of alcohol by a person under 18 on relevant premises, Allowing consumption of alcohol by a person under 18 on relevant premises, were added to the scheme on 1 November 2004; Sale of alcohol to a drunken person, Buying or Attempting to buy alcohol by a person under 18, were added to the Scheme with effect from 4 April 2005. 
			 (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Office for Criminal Justice ReformEvidence and Analysis Unit

Animal Experiments: Licensing

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has plans to review the provisions of Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in respect of the licensing of scientific procedures on animals.

Alan Campbell: We have no plans to review the provisions of Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, the so-called 'confidentiality clause', before the outcome of the revision of European Union directive 86/609/EEC on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes is known.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders: South Yorkshire

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many acceptable behaviour contracts have been agreed in  (a) Barnsley and  (b) Doncaster in each year since the inception of such contracts;
	(2)  how many breaches of antisocial behaviour orders have been recorded in  (a) Barnsley and  (b) Doncaster in each year since the inception of such orders;

Alan Campbell: The number of acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs) is collected by the Home Office through a voluntary survey of crime and disorder reduction partnerships' (CDRPs) use of antisocial behaviour tools and powers. The latest data published indicate that over 30,000 ABCs have been made between October 2003 and September 2007, with over 2,730 issued in South Yorkshire during the same period. Currently, data on the number of ABCs issued are not available below regional level.
	Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) became available from 1 April 1999. ASBO breach data are available for ASBOs issued between 1 June 2000 and 31 December 2006 (latest available). ASBO breach data are not compiled below criminal justice system (CJS) area level. Centrally collected ASBO breach data only count those instances where the breach of the ASBO was proven in court to have occurred. The number of occasions in each year on which ASBOs were proven in court to have been breached in the South Yorkshire CJS areas is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Number of occasions in the South Yorkshire criminal justice system area( 1)  where persons were proven in court to have breached their antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) in each year between 1 June 2000 and 31 December 2006 
			  CJS area  2000-02( 2)  2003  2004  2005  2006  1 June 2000 to 31December 2006 
			 South Yorkshire 20 47 76 156 191 490 
			 (1) ASBOs may be issued in one area and breached in another. Breaches are counted in this table by area of breach. (2) From 1 June 2000.  Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: OCJR Court Proceedings Database. Prepared by OCJR Evidence and Analysis Unit.

Antisocial Behaviour: West Midlands

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding his Department has allocated to tackle antisocial behaviour in  (a) Tamworth constituency,  (b) Staffordshire and  (c) the West Midlands in each year since the inception of such programmes.

Alan Campbell: The Home Office allocated 25,000 a year from 2003-04 to each crime disorder and reduction partnership (CDRP) in West Midlands which includes Tamworth and Staffordshire, as a contribution towards funding ASB co-ordinator posts. In 2005-06, in England the antisocial co-ordinators grant was pooled within the safer and stronger communities fund. This pooled budget supported the delivery of outcomes and indicators relating to antisocial behaviour in local area agreements (LAAs). As of 2008-09, Home Office funding for local authorities to tackle antisocial behaviour now forms part of the general area-based grant (ABG) paid by the Department for Communities and Local Government. This funding has been renewed for the period 2008-11 and it is for local partnerships to agree how the grants received should be allocated against locally determined priorities, including tackling antisocial behaviour.
	Respect Programmes in the West Midlands have also had an impact on antisocial behaviour. These programmes, now the responsibility of the Department for Children, Schools and Families, were designed to kick-start a change in the way the area worked to tackle antisocial behaviour. Other Home Office led activities also act to tackle antisocial behaviour, for example, the introduction of community support officers in the West Midlands, including Staffordshire but a monetary value cannot be assigned to that contribution.
	Similarly, other programmes and services contribute, sometimes indirectly, to tackling antisocial behaviour, including diversionary activities for young people, neighbourhood wardens, as well as neighbourhood policing and neighbourhood management.

Asylum: Finance

Neil Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 19 March 2009,  Official Report, column 69WS, on asylum support, what estimate he has made of the annual administrative cost of operating a plastic payment card system for the provision of section 4 support for asylum seekers.

Phil Woolas: The annual administrative cost is estimated at 200,000. We are confident that the benefits of replacing vouchers with a payment card outweigh the financial investment.

Crime: Drugs

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in Merseyside aged  (a) under 18 and  (b) between 18 and 24-years-old have been (i) cautioned and (ii) prosecuted for drug-related offences in each of the last five years.

Alan Campbell: Information provided by the Ministry of Justice, showing the number of persons cautioned or proceeded against at magistrates courts for drug related offences in Merseyside police force area, broken down by age group, from 2003 to 2007 (latest available) can be viewed in Tables 1 and 2. Information for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
	
		
			  Table 1: Number of offenders cautioned for drug related offences in the Merseyside police force area, broken down by age group, 2003 to 2007( 1, 2, 3) 
			   10 to 17 -years-old  18 to 24 -years-old 
			 2003 421 506 
			 2004 487 306 
			 2005 293 177 
			 2006 223 216 
			 2007 610 682 
			 (1 )The cautions statistics cover simple and conditional cautions, reprimands and warnings. They relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence. (2 )From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. (3 )Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source:  Office for Criminal Justice ReformEvidence and Analysis Unit. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table2: Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts of drug related offences, in the Merseyside police force area, broken down by age group, 2003 to 2007 ( 1, 2) 
			   10 to 17-years-old  18 to 24-years-old 
			 2003 393 1,128 
			 2004 297 650 
			 2005 249 432 
			 2006 222 501 
			 2007 425 1,063 
			 (1) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2 )Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source:  Evidence and Analysis UnitOffice for Criminal Justice Reform.

Crimes of Violence: Females

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure a sustainable funding strategy for the specialist violence against women voluntary sector.

Phil Woolas: In general, funding decisions for local services are determined by local commissioners based on local areas identifying needs. These are then included in their priorities for improvement with outcomes specifying how the issues will be addressed and how they contribute to wider national aims. Addressing domestic and sexual violence will be a key priority in helping local partnerships to deliver fully on the public service agreement requirements.
	The consultation 'Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls' closed on 29 May, 2009. A key theme for consultation was the promotion of better consistency and quality of provision of services for victims of violence against women and girls. This work will be taken forward during development of a cross-Government strategy.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to tables 5.2 and 5.3 in his Department's Annual Report 2008, under what budget headings expenditure under the  (a) resource and  (b) capital budget in the category police (including grants) has been incurred in 2008-09.

Alan Johnson: The category police (including grants) has incurred expenditure under the following budget headings:
	Wages and salaries
	Purchases and sales of goods and services
	Grants to local authorities
	Regulatory fees (income)
	Grants to the private sector
	Depreciation, cost of capital and provisions
	Capital additions, net of sales
	Capital grants to private sector
	Capital grants to local authorities
	Budgetary headings are assumed to be the Programme Objects, Sub-Programmes and Account Descriptions as defined by HM Treasury, which inform HM Treasury financial management and reporting processes.

Detention Centres

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new immigration detention places were created in each year since 1997; and what the cost of running the immigration detention estate was in each of those years.

Phil Woolas: The information requested is as follows:
	 (i) The following table shows the amount of new detention bed places created in each year between 1997 to 2009.
	
		
			   New bed spaces created 
			 1997 0 
			 1998 0 
			 1999 0 
			 2000 112 
			 2001 1,259 
			 2002 316 
			 2003 0 
			 2004 223 
			 2005 69 
			 2006 405 
			 2007 53 
			 2008 84 
			 2009 454 
			 Total 2,975 
		
	
	These figures are based on management information, and are therefore liable to change.
	 (ii) The cost of operating the UK Border Agency detention estate is complex on account of the way that contracts are formed, the payment mechanisms to contractors and ancillary costs, including the Detention Services HQ function.
	The following table, however, sets out the total cost of contracts and the Agency's contribution to the operation of the three centres managed by the Ministry of Justice on our behalf. It does not, however, include things like escorting services, UK Border Agency and Ministry of Justice staffing, all of which directly contribute to the running of the estate.
	The table also does not include data prior to 2004. It would be at disproportionate cost to provide this information.
	
		
			   Spend ( million) 
			 2008-09 83.028 
			 2007-08 74.697 
			 2006-07 73.925 
			 2005-06 81.887 
			 2004-05 75.813 
			 2003-04 58.057

Driving: Fines

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring forward proposals to increase the fixed penalty for offences under section 14(3) of the Road Traffic Act 1998 to 60; what recent representations he has received on this issue; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Alan Campbell: The fixed penalty for these offences was increased to 60 by the Fixed Penalty (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 2009. The increase came into effect on 30 June.

Drugs: Screening

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of  (a) testing of drugs and  (b) testing for drugs using (i) blood and (ii) urine samples were processed at each Forensic Science Service laboratory in each of the last five years.

Alan Campbell: holding answer 2 July 2009
	The records on blood and urine tests carried out by the Forensic Science Service are generated by the machines running the analysis. These records do not differentiate between tests on or for blood and urine and cannot be broken down by type.
	
		
			  Drugs case demand report 
			   Case count 
			   2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009( 1) 
			 Chepstow 3,122 3,036 2,979 3,267 3,484 1,395 
			 Chorley 3,614 4,141- 3,868 4,742 4,682 1,809 
			 Huntingdon 3,089 3,596 2,842 3,473 4,061 2,459 
			 London 4,633 4,329 5,298 4,823 4,444 1,246 
			 Manchester 2 1  1 2 2 
			 Priory House, Birmingham 2,900 2,478 2,570 2,294 1,791 1,020 
			 Trident Court, Birmingham 48   4 4 3 
			 Wetherby 2,976 2,703 2,233 2,403 2,905 1,734 
			 Barmston Court   1  1  
			 FPU Sheffield   2
			 Overall Result 20,384 20,284 19,793 21,007 21,374 9,667 
			 (1) To 29.June 
		
	
	The testing of samples of body fluids and tissues for drugs (both drugs of abuse and medicinal drugs) is carried out at the FSS labs in Chorley and London. Both laboratories carry out toxicology examinations in support of a wide range of criminal investigations; in addition the Chorley lab carries out tests of blood and urine in relation to the investigation of impaired driving through drugs. The cases of impaired driving are reported separately in the following table.
	
		
			   2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 London Toxicology 1,617 1,991 1,912 1,829 1,901 
			 Chorley Toxicology 1,461 1,603 1,297 1,153 1,146 
			 Chorley Drug Driving Unit 2,986 2,526 1,916 1,759 1,663

Entry Clearances: Married People

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the timetable is for the review of the policy of no recourse to public funds for those entering the UK on a spouse visa in relation to people who are victims of domestic violence and trafficking.

Phil Woolas: The Home Office and the UK Border Agency are working together to introduce a new scheme for victims of domestic violence whose applications for indefinite leave to remain under the domestic violence rule are successful. The scheme will provide a contribution towards the housing and living costs incurred by the supporting organisation, while the applicant's ILR application was outstanding with the UK Border Agency.
	The scheme was due to be implemented in June 2009, however, Ministers and stakeholders raised concerns about whether the scheme adequately supported victims. We are taking further time to consider these concerns.
	The Council of Europe Convention on Trafficking came into force on 1 April and has provisions for identified victims to access a 45 day reflection period which gives access to accommodation and other services.

Forensic Science

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost of staff  (a) training and  (b) recruitment at each forensic science site in each of the next three years.

Alan Campbell: The budget allocated for training and for recruitment in the Forensic Science Service has not been divided by site, but has been planned for nationally. Technical training spend in the coming year is currently forecast at 447,000. Figures for the following two years have not yet been agreed.
	Recruitment spend over the coming years is currently estimated as follows:
	
		
			   Recruitment spend () 
			 2009-10 400,000 
			 2010-11 470,000 
			 2011-12 480,000 
			 2012-13 480,000

Forensic Science

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department operates an in-house forensic science laboratory.

Alan Campbell: The Home Office does not operate an in-house forensic science laboratory but does have a branchthe Home Office Science and Development Branchwhich is involved in the research and development of forensic techniques.

Forensic Science Regulator

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the budget for the Forensic Science Regulator was in 2008-09; and what it is for  (a) 2009-10 and  (b) 2010-11.

Alan Campbell: holding answer 3 July 2009
	The information is as follows:
	The budget for 2008-09 was 1.3 million
	The budget for 2009-10 is 1.3 million
	The budget for 2010-11 has not been set but is expected to remain as that for the previous year.

Forensic Science Service: Chorley

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the reasons were for proposing the closure of the Forensic Science Services (FSS) Chorley laboratory as part of the consultation to reduce national FSS staff numbers.

Alan Campbell: The Forensic Science Service (FSS) has embarked on a consultation on its plans to transform, to move to a new national delivery model based around four primary sites, instead of the current seven main locations. It is not a consultation to cut staff numbers.
	The company's preferred model does not envisage the long-term continued use of Chorley as a main laboratory. No final decision has been taken ahead of completion of the consultation.
	In selecting those sites proposed as suitable for inclusion, a number of factors were carefully considered.
	A main building block of the proposed operational delivery model is the co-location of body fluid search examination with DNA analytical facilities to meet the challenging customer timeliness requirements and improvements in success rates (i.e. providing a useful DNA profile from a body fluid stain). This is significantly different to how the current services operate and a key enabler to any estate footprint.
	Current DNA analytical facilities are located at Huntingdon, London, Trident Court and Wetherby. The start up cost and time lag of introducing DNA facilities into sites where DNA is not currently delivered has had a significant impact on the choice of proposed retained locations.
	Among other key factors considered were:
	Available laboratory space, as well as type of space;
	Lowest risk on customer disengagement;
	Maintaining geographical spread across England  Wales;
	Overall execution risk and cost/benefit analysis;
	Response to scenes;
	Current mix of skills at each site and their alignment, as far as possible, to the proposed national business streams.

Forensic Science Service: Isle of Man

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from  (a) the police,  (b) coroners and  (c) the Government of the Isle of Man as part of his Department's consultation on the Forensic Science Service.

Alan Campbell: The consultation on the future structure of the Forensic Science Service (FSS) Ltd. is being conducted by the company, not by the Home Office.
	The Home Office has received no representations from these parties, nor has the company itself.
	The FSS continues to carry out work for the police service in the Isle of Man under a service level agreement.
	The FSS has communicated with all its law enforcement customers as part of the transformation process, in order to develop a proposed new structure that will best serve the needs of the Criminal Justice Service.

Immigrants: Somalia

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of Somali nationals in the UK who do not have leave to remain.

Phil Woolas: Since the phasing out of embarkation controls in 1994 no Government have ever been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who are in the country illegally or who have overstayed their leave to remain. By its very nature it is impossible to quantify accurately and that remains the case.
	As part of the Government's 10-point plan for delivery, by 2010 over 95 per cent. of non-EEA foreign nationals will be counted in and out of the country, rising to 100 per cent. by 2014. This is part of a sweeping programme of border protection which also includes the global roll-out of fingerprint visas, watch-list checks for all travellers before they arrive or depart from the UK and ID cards for foreign nationals.

Muslim Population

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of the size of the Muslim population of the UK in each year since 1979.

Angela Smith: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated July 2009:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question asking what estimate has been made of the Muslim population of Britain in each year since 1979. (284443)
	The Census is the most commonly used source for statistics on religion by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with more recent information on religious affiliation (that is the identification with a religion irrespective of actual practice or belief) from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The way people respond to questions on religion is sensitive to what question is asked and how it is asked. Therefore because of differences between the Census and LFS in terms of question design and also coverage of the type of establishments in which people reside, data from these two sources cannot be compared.
	The 2001 Census was the first time that a religion question had been asked in the England and Wales (and Scotland) census, and revealed that 1,589,000 people in Great Britain identified as Muslim in 2001.
	A question on religious affiliation was introduced into the LFS in Great Britain in Spring 2002 using an extended version of the wording used in the England and Wales Census, but was not asked of people aged 16 and under until 2004. Consequently the earliest suitable estimates are from 2004 which cover people of all ages, and are shown in Table 1 attached.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates is included at Table 1.
	
		
			  Table 1: Muslim population( 1: ) Three month period ending September, 2004-08 ,  Great Britain, not seasonally adjusted 
			   Thousand 
			 2004 *1,870 
			 2005 *2,017 
			 2006 *2,142 
			 2007 *2,327 
			 2008 *2,422 
			 (1) All ages Coefficients of Variation have been calculated as an indication of the quality of the estimates, as described:  Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV - for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent. we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220.  Key Coefficient of Variation (CV) (%) Statistical Robustness * 0 = CV≤5 Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV ≤10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV ≤20 Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes  Note: It should be noted that the above estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc.  Source:  Labour Force Survey

Police: Sports Events

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has issued guidance to the police on using powers under section 27 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 to police sporting events.

David Hanson: The Home Office issued guidance on Directions to Leave (section 27 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006) in August 2007. This power can be used where an individual's presence is likely to cause or contribute to the occurrence, repetition or continuance of alcohol-related crime and disorder. The guidance does not specifically mention sporting events, but there is no reason why the power cannot be used at these events, providing that the legislative tests have been met.
	A copy of the guidance can be found by using the web link as follows.
	http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/operational-policing/directions-to-leave-locality

Powers of Entry

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in his Department's review of state powers of entry; and what timetable has been set for publication of  (a) an interim and  (b) a final report on that review.

David Hanson: We have compiled a comprehensive list of powers of entry which is contained on the Powers of Entry Review webpage at:
	http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-policing/powers-pace-codes/powers-of-entry-review/
	The aim is to provide a final report by autumn 2009.

Housing Benefit: Reform

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to paragraph 45 of the Draft Legislative Programme 2009, Cm 7654, on what proposals relating to the reform of housing benefit she intends to consult.

Helen Goodman: As set out in the 2008 Welfare Reform White Paper, 'Raising expectations and increasing support: reforming welfare for the future', we intend to consult on how housing benefit can do more to ease the transition into work, promote value for money and ensure that the system is fair to working families not eligible for benefit.

Jobcentre Plus: Greater London

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many  (a) benefit delivery centres and  (b) customer-facing jobcentres were operated by Jobcentre Plus in each London borough in each year since 2002.

Jim Knight: holding answer 1 June 2009
	The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Ruth Owen:
	The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many (a) benefit delivery centres and; (b) customer-facing jobcentres were operated by Jobcentre Plus in each London borough in each year since 2002. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to Mel Groves as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. As Mel Groves is currently on annual leave, I am replying in his absence.
	I have attached a table (two pages) which shows the number of offices in which benefits were processed and the number of Jobcentres in each London Borough from 2002 to 2009. Benefit Delivery Centres were not fully in place in London until 2007.
	
		
			  Local authority  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009 
			  Barking and Dagenham 
			 Jobcentres 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Barnet 
			 Jobcentres 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 4 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 2 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 
			  
			  Bexley 
			 Jobcentres 3 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 
			  Brent 
			 Jobcentres 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Bromley 
			 Jobcentres 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 
			  
			  Camden 
			 Jobcentres 4 4 3 2 2 2 2 1 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Croydon 
			 Jobcentres 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 
			  
			  Ealing 
			 Jobcentres 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Enfield 
			 Jobcentres 0 0 0 4 4 4 3 3 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Greenwich 
			 Jobcentres 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 2 2 2 2 2 1 0 0 
			  
			  Hackney 
			 Jobcentres 5 5 5 3 3 3 3 3 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 
			  
			  Hammersmith and Fulham 
			 Jobcentres 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Haringey 
			 Jobcentres 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 
			  
			  Harrow 
			 Jobcentres 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Havering 
			 Jobcentres 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Hillingdon 
			 Jobcentres 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 
			 Benefit Processing Offices  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Hounslow 
			 Jobcentres 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Islington 
			 Jobcentres 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 3 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Kensington and Chelsea 
			 Jobcentres 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Kingston upon Thames 
			 Jobcentres 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 
			  
			  Lambeth 
			 Jobcentres 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 5 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Lewisham 
			 Jobcentres 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 
			  
			  Merton 
			 Jobcentres 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 
			  
			  Newham 
			 Jobcentres 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 
			  
			  Redbridge 
			 Jobcentres 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 
			  
			  Richmond upon Thames 
			 Jobcentres 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Southwark 
			 Jobcentres 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 3 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Sutton 
			 Jobcentres 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 
			  
			  Tower Hamlets 
			 Jobcentres 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 2 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Waltham Forest 
			 Jobcentres 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 
			  
			  Wandsworth 
			 Jobcentres 5 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
			  
			  Westminster 
			 Jobcentres 5 5 5 4 2 2 2 3 
			 Benefit Processing Offices 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0

Jobcentre Plus: Manpower

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much of the 1.7 billion funding for Jobcentre Plus announced in the 2009 Budget will be allocated for  (a) additional staff at each grade and  (b) contractors.

Jim Knight: Budget 2009 announced an additional 1.7 billion to DWP for Jobcentre Plus customers over the next two years, to 2010-11. 1.1 billion was allocated to Jobcentre Plus for staff and infrastructure to deliver front line services. 0.6 billion was allocated for Employment Programmes to be delivered by third party provision.
	A breakdown of the planned staff costs over the two years by grade is currently unavailable. Further detailed planning is in progress to ensure that we can manage customer demand with the staff resource we have available.

Apprentices: Unemployment

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people became unemployed after ending an apprenticeship in  (a) Peterborough and  (b) Cambridgeshire in 2008.

Iain Wright: We do not currently hold data centrally about the total number of apprentices made redundant. Arrangements are in place from 1 August 2009 onwards to record the number of apprentices who are made redundant. Working with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) we have established a matching service to help apprentices at risk of redundancy to find alternative employment and to complete their apprenticeship. More generally, providers and the LSC have procedures to advise and relocate apprentices, in cases where providers or employers fail, to help ensure that they are able to continue in work and complete their apprenticeship. The 140 million package announced by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister for an additional 35,000 apprenticeship places will help fund new provision in both the public sector and private sector, and will extend the opportunities available to people facing redundancy.

Building Schools for the Future Programme

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  which local education authorities have been successful in one or more applications for funding under the Building Schools for the Future programme; and how much funding has been awarded to each such authority;
	(2)  which local education authorities that have been successful in one or more applications under the Building Schools for the Future programme contain three-tier schools in either all or part of the authority.

Vernon Coaker: The following tables set out the funding agreed for local authorities in BSF.
	
		
			Funding (000) 
			  Wave  Local authority  Conventional  PFI credits 
			 1 Bradford 9,461 111,904 
			 1 Bristol 31,959 157,173 
			 1 Greenwich 57,226 183,510 
			 1 Knowsley 3,508 249,984 
			 1 Lancashire 77,895 254,252 
			 1 Leeds 166,767 185,743 
			 1 Leicester 164,889 151,317 
			 1 Lewisham 17,793 118,971 
			 1 Manchester 203,620 0 
			 1 Newcastle(1) 84,968 169,186 
			 1 Newham 98,153 66,484 
			 1 Sheffield 76,375 88,999 
			 1 Solihull 33,686 86,790 
			 1 South Tyneside and Gateshead (joint project) 158,555 68,672 
			 1 Sunderland 120,506 0 
			 1 Waltham Forest 39,988 53,910 
			 2 Birmingham 260,605 103,655 
			 2 Hackney 152,016 0 
			 2 Haringey 176,634 0 
			 2 Islington 84,711 112,838 
			 2 Kingston upon Hull 278,811 151,627 
			 2 Lambeth 87,123 0 
			 2 Liverpool 162,683 0 
			 2 Middlesbrough 115,869 0 
			 2 Nottingham 146,512 75,913 
			 2 Tower Hamlets 102,470 0 
			 3 Barnsley 28,498 332,585 
			 3 Bradford 10,183 214,782 
			 3 Derbyshire 60,274 64,945 
			 3 Durham 70,041 90,001 
			 3 Kent(1) 173,164 98,840 
			 3 Lewisham 68,439 112,499 
			 3 Luton 122,774 36,279 
			 3 North Lincolnshire 89,416 0 
			 3 Salford 16,953 222,677 
			 3 Sandwell 137,199 62,874 
			 3 Southwark 149,596 89,672 
			 3 Tameside 80,161 131,664 
			 3 Westminster 159,603 0 
			 4 Blackburn 85,032 118,636 
			 4 Bristol 133,515 0 
			 4 Cambridgeshire(1) 86,514 62,213 
			 4 Coventry 201,811 366,941 
			 4 Essex 30,637 168,762 
			 4 Hertfordshire(1) 134,461 148,196 
			 4 Rochdale 122,711 131,992 
			 4 Sheffield 232,563 38,393 
			 4 Somerset(1) 7,927 180,442 
			 4 Telford and Wrekin 225,724 0 
			 5 Camden 179,648 135,228 
			 5 Derby 193,322 115,783 
			 5 Ealing 235,005 152,624 
			 5 Greenwich 76,506 62,342 
			 5 Hartlepool 109,737 0 
			 5 Lambeth 222,706 0 
			 5 St. Helens 96,565 124,368 
			 5 Sandwell 128,949 103,141 
			 5 Wolverhampton 279,968 143,421 
			 (1) Authorities which have three-tier schools in all or part of the authority. 
		
	
	Funding levels have yet to be agreed for the following projects.
	These projects have started in BSF, but have yet to achieve approval of the outline business case, which confirms the funding.
	
		
			  Wave  Local authority 
			 1 Stoke-on-Trent 
			 4 Barking and Dagenham 
			 4 Kent 
			 4 Manchester 
			 4 Oldham 
			 5 Birmingham 
			 5 Blackpool 
			 5 Bradford 
			 5 Derbyshire 
			 5 Kensington and Chelsea 
			 5 Kent 
			 5 North East Lincolnshire 
			 5 Newham 
			 5 Nottingham 
			 5 Tower Hamlets 
			 5 Waltham Forest 
			 5 Wandsworth 
			 6 Bedford(1) 
			 6 Bournemouth and Poole(1) (joint project) 
			 6 Doncaster 
			 6 Durham 
			 6 Essex 
			 6 Halton 
			 6 Hammersmith and Fulham 
			 6 Hillingdon 
			 6 Kent 
			 6 Kirklees(1) 
			 6 Liverpool 
			 6 Luton 
			 6 Nottinghamshire 
			 6 Portsmouth 
			 6 Redcar and Cleveland 
			 6 Stockton-on-Tees 
			 6 Suffolk(1) 
			 6a Enfield 
			 6a Hounslow 
			 6a Rotherham 
			 6a Walsall 
			 6a North Tyneside(1) 
			 6a Worcestershire(1) 
			 6a Staffordshire(1) 
			 6a Southampton 
			 (1) Authorities which have three-tier schools in all or part of the authority.

Child Workforce Development Council

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what budget he has allocated to the Child Workforce Development Council for  (a) 2010-11,  (b) 2011-12,  (c) 2012-13 and  (d) each future year for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: The Children's Workforce Development Council has been allocated a core grant allocation of 31,003,000 for 2010-11 as part of the comprehensive spending review agreements. The additional contributions for specific programme delivery have not yet been agreed.
	The financial years 2011-12 and 2012-13 are beyond the extent of this comprehensive spending review cycle and therefore information is not available.

Child Workforce Development Council

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many full-time equivalent staff the Child Workforce Development Council employed in each year since its establishment.

Dawn Primarolo: Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) was established in 2005. The following table details the average monthly number of full-time equivalent staff employed by CWDC in each year since its establishment:
	
		
			   Permanent  Other  Total 
			 2005-06(1) 10  10 
			 2006-07(1) 43  43 
			 2007-08(2) 99 15 114 
			 2008-09(3) 133 18 151 
			 (1) Taken from published Annual Reports and Financial Statements. (2) As will be restated in draft audited accounts 2008-09 to be laid before summer recess 2009. (3) Taken from draft audited accounts 2008-09.

Children in Care: Staffordshire

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of looked-after children in Staffordshire achieved results equivalent to or higher than the average results achieved by all children in  (a) England and  (b) Staffordshire in each key stage examination in each of the last five years.

Dawn Primarolo: Published information for children looked after continuously for 12 months at 30 September each year is available in the local authority tables via the following links:
	 2004tables 2 to 4
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/VOL/v000580/index.shtml
	 2005tables 2 to 5
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/VOL/v000655/index.shtml
	 2006 tables 2 to 5
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000727/index.shtml
	 2007 tables 2 to 5
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000785/index.shtml
	 2008 tables 2 to 5
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000842/index.shtml
	All tables show the attainment for each key stage for looked after children compared to all children. This shows the numbers and percentages achieving the expected level which are provided instead of the average results.
	Data for key stage 1 are not included for 2004 because this was the trial year for key stage 1 teacher assessmentsas this took place in a sample of schools; it is not possible to provide a comparison between the attainments of looked after children and all children.

Children: Protection

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  what changes he is planning to the integrated children's system;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the cost to local authorities of implementing proposed changes to the integrated children's system.

Dawn Primarolo: Baroness Delyth Morgan's letter to all directors of children's services on 22 June was accompanied by a circular setting out the principles which will guide future development of the Integrated Children's System. These principles make clear that it is the responsibility of local authorities to determine how information systems can be used to support the delivery of social care services.
	The Government will work with practitioners to simplify the national specifications of ICS, local authorities will not be required to comply with the published specifications, although this does not alter their obligations to comply with their statutory duties towards children and their families.
	A copy of Baroness Delyth Morgan's letter is available from:
	www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/safeguardingandsocialcare/integratedchildrenssystem/ics/
	The detailed local consequences of these changes will depend upon the decisions of individual local authorities. It is a matter for the authorities to determine how to invest their budgets in the maintenance and upgrading of their IT systems,, and information on this expenditure is not collected centrally. The Department has indicated that it will support this expenditure with a capital grant for ICS of 6.4 million in 2009-10.

Children's Play: Enfield

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding his Department has allocated for children's play schemes in  (a) the London Borough of Enfield and  (b) Enfield North constituency in the last 12 months.

Dawn Primarolo: Enfield are one of 30 play pathfinder authorities across England and began receiving play funding from April 2008, as part of the first wave of the children's plan play capital investment programme. The authority has already received 594,107 capital funding and 138,510 revenue funding during 2008-09 which was used to successfully deliver 12 new/improved public play areas in the borough. They have been allocated a further 1,569,237 capital funding and 218,633 revenue funding to be spent in 2009-10 to deliver another 16 public play areas and one adventure playground.
	The play capital investment programme will provide capital and revenue funding to every one of the 152 top-tier local authorities in England in order to develop/improve play spaces. Decisions on where the capital funding is spent within local authority boundaries are taken locally, based on grant requirements around improved play spaces being provided where they are most needed and based on a robust consultation process with local children and young people, families and wider communities.
	We are encouraging all Members of Parliament to proactively engage with their local play capital programmes as they roll out, and we are asking local authorities to ensure that their local Members of Parliament and council elected members are appropriately consulted, and briefed, about where the capital funding is spent.

English Language: Standards

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what information his Department holds on England's position in international rankings of countries in which English is the first language for educational attainment in English in each of the last five years.

Vernon Coaker: There have been no international comparisons studies designed specifically to test English as a first language.

Families: Coventry

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what services his Department provides to assist young families in Coventry.

Dawn Primarolo: Supporting families is a key priority for the Department for Children Schools and Families. Over the current spending review period (2008-11) Coventry has been allocated approximately 21 million in capital and revenue funding to support the development of children's centres, early years and child care provision in the area, including outreach work for the most disadvantaged. There are currently 20 designated Sure Start Children's Centres offering services to around 15,987 children under five and their families, with a further three centres in development.
	Over 75 million is being made available nationally for 2009-10 for targeted initiatives to support families with high levels of need, with a particular focus on parenting skills. This will enable all local authorities to have family intervention projects, the parenting early intervention programme (for parents of 8-13 year olds) and to each employ two expert parenting practitioners.

Integrated Children's System

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 17 June 2009,  Official Report, column 392W, on the Integrated Children's System, 
	(1)  who was responsible for the Quality Protects Management Information project when the Integrated Children's System requirements were developed; how many  (a) local authority officers and  (b) frontline social workers were consulted at each stage of development; which commercial suppliers of children's social care systems were consulted; with which contracted specialists his Department collaborated; and if he will publish the correspondence between his Department and commercial suppliers connected with the Integrated Children's System;
	(2)  how many meetings there were with  (a) local authorities and  (b) front-line social workers in developing the requirements for local authorities to procure systems from IT suppliers to support delivery of the model.

Dawn Primarolo: holding answer 24 June 2009
	The Quality Protects Management Information project was the responsibility of the then Secretary of State for Health when the original Integrated Children's System (ICS) requirements were developed between 2001 and 2003.
	10 consultation events were held in 2000 with over 500 representatives from organisations responsible for child welfare in England and Wales, including local authority social services departments, private and voluntary agencies, the then Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work, pilot post-qualifying child care courses, software houses, and a number of other interested individuals. Two additional events in Wales drew together an inter-agency audience in the context of the Children First programme. As part of the consultation exercise, specific groups consulted included foster carers, children, young people, families with disabled children and families from ethnic minority groups. Information on exactly how many meetings were held with either local authorities or frontline social workers or on how many local authority officers and frontline social workers were consulted at each stage of development is not available.
	Following this exercise, the Department of Health (DH) published the conceptual framework for ICS as a consultation document (Integrated Children's System: Working with Children in Need and Their Families) addressed to Councils with Social Services Responsibilities (CSSRs) in December 2002. DH and the Welsh Assembly Government addressed a further consultation document (Information Outputs for Children's Social Services A Conceptual Framework) to CSSRs in March 2003.
	The commercial systems suppliers consulted by DH were OLM, Anite, Careworks, and TCO. Anite's ICS interests were purchased in 2008 by Northgate; TCO was acquired in 2005 by CACI.
	Following machinery of Government changes in 2003, the Department for Children, Schools and Families took responsibility for ICS. Capgemini consultants were contracted by DCSF to conduct a readiness review of local authorities' ICS preparedness in 2006. These consultants were then retained to prepare industry-standard requirements documentation, in response to feedback from local authorities during the review.
	Correspondence with IT suppliers contracting for ICS systems is the responsibility of those individual local authorities which either are, or might wish to become, their customers. The Department's direct relations with these suppliers concern product assessment activities undertaken to assist local authorities in light of the readiness review. The results of these assessments have all been published on the Department's website at
	www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/safeguardingandsocialcare/integratedchildrenssystem/icstechnicalresources/tech/
	under the heading Supplier compliance summary. Other exchanges antecedent to the published assessments are covered by non-disclosure agreements, as they relate to commercially-sensitive information concerning product compliance and performance.

National Strategies Field Force

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2009,  Official Report, column 996W, on schools: standards, how many field forces there are; what the remit of the National Strategies Field Force is; and what expenditure his Department incurred on each of the 10 largest field forces in the latest period for which figures are available.

Vernon Coaker: We do not hold a definitive list of field forces focused on school standards. One of the principal field forces in this area is the national strategies, which has a wide remit for raising standards of achievement and rates of progression for children and young people in all phases of schools and early years settings. Its principal remit is to support both schools and local authorities to improve teaching and learning, and to develop strategies for whole school improvement. The cost of this field force is given within our answer of 24 June.
	In our answer of 21 April we estimated a figure of around 90 milliom in 2008-09 to cover all field force advisers that work directly with LAs and Children's Trust partners. It is difficult to provide a precise breakdown of expenditure on each of these, since they are delivered through a range of mechanismssome are directly contracted (so the cost of advisors is incorporated within a larger contract), some are located in Government Offices as secondees, and some are employed directly by DCSF or its NDPBs. However, based on the information available, our estimate of the largest (in terms of 2008-09 expenditure) 10 field forces working directly with LAs and Children's Trust partners are listed as follows:
	National Strategies Regional and Local Advisers, 30 million
	Partnership for Schools Employed and Contracted Advisers c10 million
	Sure Start Children's Centres Advisers, c8 million
	Extended Services Support Advisers, c6 million
	TDA Regional Advisers, c5 million
	Children's Services Advisers (in Government Offices), c4 million
	Together for Disabled Children, advising on short-breaks and parent forums for disabled children and their families, c3 million
	14-19 Regional Field Workers, c3 million
	Academies Advisers, c2 million
	14-19 Regional Advisers c2 million
	Further information on the role of every field force is set out in the National Prospectus for Children's Services Improvement Support, a copy of which will be available in both Libraries.

Schools: Admissions

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many parents in each local authority area appealed against their child's school allocation  (a) successfully and  (b) unsuccessfully in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: The requested information, covering the years 1997/98 to 2006/07, has been placed in the House Libraries. Information for 2007/08 will be published shortly.

Schools: Playing Fields

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which schools have sold land which had been used as playing fields in each year since 1997.

Iain Wright: holding answer 4 June 2009
	Before 1997 there were no figures collected about the loss of school playing fields but there was widespread public concern over the increasing loss of such facilities. Schools and local authorities could sell off playing fields without any restriction and use the sale proceeds however they wished.
	Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 stopped the indiscriminate sale of school playing fields. Schools and local authorities must obtain the Secretary of State's approval before they can dispose of their land. The legislation sets out clear criteria for obtaining consent which includes ensuring that the land is genuinely surplus to schools and community groups. Also, any sale proceeds must be used to improve sports or educational facilities.
	Since 1997 the Secretary of State has approved 203 applications that involve the sale of an area of land capable of forming a sports pitch of at least 0.2 hectares at schools in England. Of these 99 were at schools that had closed and the land was not needed by any other local school. Of the 104 applications at operating schools, the proceeds of sale will be used to improve the on-site sports facilities in 86 cases. In the other 18 applications the schools will benefit from improved educational facilities. A list of the schools concerned will be placed in the House Libraries.

Sure Start Programme: Coventry

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much money his Department allocated to Sure Start initiatives in Coventry in the last 12 months.

Dawn Primarolo: Funding for Sure Start Children's Centres and predecessor Sure Start local programmes is allocated to local authorities as part of the Sure Start, Early Years and child care grant. The following table sets out Coventry City council's children's centre revenue and capital allocations for the current spending review period, 2008-11. Local authorities have flexibility within the terms of the grant to decide how much they spend on centres.
	
		
			
			   08/09  09/10  10/11 
			 Children's centre revenue(1) 6,347,490 7,183,175 7,799,339 
			 Children's centre capital 342,131 705,093 440,460 
			 (1) Revenue figures include the element within the Sure Start Early Years and Child care Grant that is ringfenced for children's centres based on the earlier Sure Start local programmes in Coventry.

Young People: Public Participation

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent research his Department has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on (a) the effectiveness of his Department's arrangements for the engagement of young people in decision-making and (b) means to increase such engagement.

Diana Johnson: The Government are committed to listening to and reflecting the views of children and young people. We believe that children and young people should be given opportunities to express their opinion in matters that affect their lives.
	For example, the Children and Youth Board (CYB) regularly helps shape the Department's thinking and policy making. Most recently the CYB has helped shape the Children's Plan, the Byron Review, and the Play Strategy.
	Our White Paper published on 30 June, Your Child, Your Schools, Our Future: building a 21(st) century schools system sets out an entitlement that all pupils should have the opportunity to say what they think of their school and how it could be improved.
	Aiming High, the Department's 10 Year Youth Strategy, set out our commitment to engaging young people in decision making at a local level by empowering them to have greater influence over the services that are provided for young people in their area. Over one and a half million young people have benefited from initiatives such as Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital Funds which require not only that funding applications are made by young people, but that young people are part of the panel that decides which applications are successful. An independent evaluation carried out last year showed that the empowerment of young people through these funds is not only leading to increased participation in higher quality things to do and places to go, but challenging stereotypes and perceptions of young people in our communities.
	We have also issued Working Together: Listening to the voices of children and young people which promotes the participation of children and young people in decision-making in school, local authority and related settings. 99 per cent. of schools have pupil voice activity and 95 per cent. have a student council, (Institute of Education, September 2007).

Apprentices

Stephen Williams: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of people undertaking apprenticeships are  (a) new recruits to and  (b) existing staff in the organisation employing them.

Kevin Brennan: This information is not currently collected. In England, more than 130,000 employers offer Apprenticeships because they understand the benefits that apprentices bring to their businessincreased productivity, improved competitiveness and a committed and competent workforce. Employers use Apprenticeships to ensure that their workforce has the practical skills and qualifications they need either as part of an organisation's recruitment strategy or as part of their workforce development strategy.

Business: Political Donations

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit small companies from making donations to political parties.

Michael Wills: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government have no current plans to do so.
	The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, and the Political Parties and Elections Bill which is before Parliament, require certain conditions to be satisfied in order for donors to be deemed permissible. Under the 2000 Act, for a company to be a permissible donor, it must be registered under the Companies Act 1985 or the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986, incorporated within the United Kingdom or another member state in the European Union, and must carry on business in the United Kingdom. The Political Parties and Elections Bill contains measures to strengthen the controls on political donationsincluding those from companiesby requiring all donations over 7,500 to be accompanied by a declaration as to the identity of the true donor.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Lynne Jones: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 26 June 2009,  Official Report, columns 1198-99W, on chronic fatigue syndrome, who the members of the panel of experts are; and how often it has  (a) met and  (b) reported on its findings.

David Lammy: The membership of the expert group set up by the Medical Research Council is as follows:
	Professor Jill Belch (Chair)University of Dundee,
	Professor Stephen HolgateUniversity of Southampton,
	Dr. Esther CrawleyUniversity of Bristol,
	Professor Philip CowenUniversity of Oxford,
	Professor Malcolm JacksonUniversity of Liverpool,
	Dr. Jonathan KerrSt George's University of London,
	Professor Ian KimberUniversity of Manchester,
	Professor Hugh PerryUniversity of Southampton,
	Dr. Derek PhebyNational CFS/ME Observatory,
	Professor Anthony PinchingPennisula Medical School,
	Dr. Charles ShepherdME Association,
	Sir Peter SpencerAction for ME,
	Professor Peter WhiteBart's and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
	The Expert Group has met twice, in December 2008 and March 2009. The notes of those meetings will be published on the MRC website shortly, and will then be accessible to the public.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Vincent Cable: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what projects the Export Credits Guarantee Department has supported through its Fixed Rate Export Finance scheme since 1 January 2009; and what the  (a) date of approval,  (b) amount of exposure at that date,  (c) UK company concerned,  (d) destination country for the export and  (e) project or product involved was in each case.

Ian Lucas: The Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) has provided support for one project through its Fixed Rate Export Finance (FREF) scheme since 1 January 2009. The following details are provided as requested:
	 (a) 21 January 2009
	 (b) ECGD provided FREF support for $20 million out of a total loan of $42 million guaranteed by the Department. (ECGD obtained reinsurance for the remaining $22 million from COFACEthe French Export Credit Agency)
	 (c) Balfour Beatty Rail Projects Ltd
	 (d) Chile
	 (e) Extension of the Santiago Metro (supply of track, switches and crossings).

Higher Education: Admissions

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people resident in  (a) Tamworth constituency and  (b) Staffordshire were admitted to universities in England in each of the last five years.

David Lammy: The number of all-aged entrants to higher education institutions in England from the Tamworth constituency and Staffordshire local authority area are shown in the table. Figures for the 2008-09 academic year will be available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) in January 2010.
	
		
			  Entrants( 1)  from Tamworth parliamentary constituency( 2)  and Staffordshire local authority area( 2) English higher education institutions: Academic years 2003-04 to 2007-08 
			   Tamworth  Staffordshire 
			 2003-04 815 10,220 
			 2004-05 750 9,585 
			 2005-06 800 9,760 
			 2006-07 855 9,360 
			 2007-08 825 9,805 
			 (1) Covers undergraduate and postgraduate entrants to full-time and part-time courses. (2) The table does not include entrants where the parliamentary constituency and local authority area of the student cannot be established due to missing or invalid home postcodes.  Notes:  1. Figures are on a Standard Registration Population (SRP) basis and are rounded to the nearest five. 2. Figures exclude the Open University due to inconsistencies in their coding of entrants across the time series. So urce:  Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Higher Education: Forensic Science

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what information his Department holds on which universities offer  (a) degrees and  (b) other qualifications in forensic science.

David Lammy: The latest available information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is shown in the following table. The HESA indicates that there are some 60 higher education institutions that offer forensic science as a principal subject. Information based on the 2008/09 academic year will be available in 2010.
	The Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS) website provides a detailed list of forensic science undergraduate courses offered by UK higher education courses for entry in 2009 and 2010 at the following web link:
	http://www.ucas.ac.uk/students/coursesearch/
	
		
			  UK higher education institutions providing forensic science as a principal level of study( 1) ,  academic year 2007/08 
			   Level of Study 
			  Institution  Post graduate  Under graduate  Foundation degree  Other( 2) 
			 Anglia Ruskin University X X   
			 Bangor University  X   
			 Bournemouth University X X X  
			 Canterbury Christ Church University X X  X 
			 Cardiff University X X   
			 Coventry University X X   
			 Cranfield University X   X 
			 De Montfort University  X   
			 Glasgow Caledonian University  X   
			 Glyndwr University  X X  
			 Heriot-Watt University X
			 Kings College London X
			 Kingston University X X   
			 Leeds Metropolitan University  X   
			 Liverpool John Moores University  X   
			 London Metropolitan University X X   
			 London South Bank University X X   
			 Loughborough University  X   
			 Middlesex University  X   
			 Napier University  X   
			 Queen Mary and Westfield College  X X  
			 Sheffield Hallam University X X   
			 Staffordshire University X X   
			 Thames Valley University  X X  
			 The Manchester Metropolitan University  X   
			 The Nottingham Trent University  X X  
			 The Robert Gordon University  X   
			 University College London X X   
			 University of Bradford  X   
			 University of Central  X X  
			 Lancashire 
			 University of Chester  X   
			 University of Cumbria  X X  
			 University of Derby  X   
			 University of Dundee X X   
			 University of Durham  X  X 
			 University of East London  X   
			 University of Edinburgh X
			 University of Glamorgan  X X  
			 University of Greenwich  X  X 
			 University of Huddersfield X X  X 
			 University of Hull X X   
			 University of Keele  X   
			 University of Kent  X   
			 University of Leicester X X   
			 University of Lincoln X X   
			 University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne X
			 University of Northumbria at Newcastle X
			 University of Plymouth  X X  
			 University of Portsmouth  X   
			 University of Sheffield X X   
			 University of Strathclyde X X   
			 University of Surrey  X   
			 University of Sussex  X   
			 University of Teesside X X X  
			 University of the West of England, Bristol  X   
			 University of the West of Scotland  X  X 
			 University of Ulster X
			 University of Wales, Lampeter  X  X 
			 University of Wolverhampton  X  X 
			 University of Worcester  X   
			 (1) Covers full-time and part-time enrolments to course where forensic science is the principal subject or combined with archaeological science. (2) HND/HE Diplomas, Other sub-degree and further education courses.  Note: X denotes institutions who offer forensic science course as principal standalone subject or combined.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)

Oil: Prices

Gordon Banks: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to mitigate the negative effects of rises in oil prices on business.

David Kidney: I have been asked to reply.
	DECC's objective is to ensure Britain's energy is secure, affordable and efficient. Within these objectives DECC is working towards reducing the risk of high oil prices and ensuring fair retail fuel prices for consumers and businesses.
	We recognise the negative effects that oil price volatility has on oil investment, businesses and the economy as a whole. Thus DECC continues to support initiatives for investment needed to provide sufficient oil supplies as the economy recovers. We also support moves to further strengthen transparency and efficiency in the international oil market and seek commitment for this with our international partners and through initiatives like the London Energy Meeting.
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is responsible for business policy.

Overseas Trade

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to encourage trade between the UK and Saudi Arabia.

Ian Lucas: UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) supports business with Saudi Arabia through trade and investment teams based in Saudi Arabia and the UK. In addition to a 20-strong team in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar, UKTI also employs a business specialist focused specifically on identifying supply chain opportunities in Saudi Arabia arising from the Saudi Government's Fiscal Stimulus packages.
	UKTI funds and provides secretariat support for the Saudi-British Joint Business Council. The Council identifies new business opportunities and also focuses on ways to tackle barriers to trade and improve the environment for business.
	UKTI provides a broad range of support for British companies wishing to do business in Saudi Arabiafrom conferences and trade missions to support for trade fairs and exhibitions. Over recent months, events aimed at promoting business with Saudi Arabia (and the wider Gulf region) have been held in Bristol, the north east, Yorkshire, London and Northern Ireland.
	UKTI organised a visit to the UK by the Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), HE Amr al Dabbagh, in June 2009. In addition to a business showcase in Buckingham Palace on 17 June, hosted by HRH the Duke of York, UKTI also staged a Two Kingdoms Trade and Investment Conference on 18 June, which focused on opportunities in health care, education, transport, energy and financial services, and in which 150 British companies participated.
	A Double Taxation Agreement with Saudi Arabia came into force in December 2008 and a bilateral Investment Promotion  Protection Agreement (IPPA) is currently under negotiation and likely to be signed later this year.

Vocational Training: Finance

David Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much the Learning and Skills Council  (a) has distributed to training providers for 2008-09 and  (b) expects to distribute to training providers in 2009-10 for (i) Train to Gain learners, (ii) apprentices aged between 16 and 18 years, (iii) apprentices aged between 19 and 24 years, (iv) adult apprentices and (v) other training programmes.

Kevin Brennan: The budget available for Train to Gain through the Learning and Skills Council in the 2008-09 financial year is 797 million and 925 million for the 2009-10 financial year. The actual amount of funding that is paid to training providers will depend on performance during the year, and the actual amount of training delivered.
	In 2008-09 financial year the budget available for 16 to 18-year-old Apprenticeships is 628 million, 266 million for 19 to 24-year-old Apprenticeships and 67 million for Apprenticeships for those over 25. In 2009-10 there is 708 million available for 16 to 18-year-old Apprenticeships, 273 million for 19 to 24-year-old Apprenticeships and 117 million for Apprenticeships for those over 25. As for Train to Gain the actual amount of funding that is paid to training providers will depend on their performance during the year and the actual amount of training delivered.
	The LSC will report the actual spend on both Train to Gain and Apprenticeships during the 2008-09 financial year as part of their annual report, due to be published shortly.

Council Tax

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what use has been made of the Valuation Office Agency's council tax banding support tool in relation to properties in respect of which no formal appeal has been lodged.

Stephen Timms: The Valuation Office Agency's council tax banding support tool has been used to assist staff when reviewing existing council tax bands, whether or not there has been a formal proposal to alter the council tax valuation list, and when placing bands on new or altered dwellings.

Council Tax: Wales

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the gross cost to the public purse of the 2005 council tax revaluation in Wales.

Peter Hain: I have been asked to respond.
	Figures supplied by the Valuation Office Agency indicate that the total costs of delivering the revaluation in Wales, up to 31 March 2005, were 5.198 million.

Finance: Housing

John Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what reduction in spending he is making to accommodate the 1,500 million increase in housing expenditure announced in the Prime Minister's Statement on Building Britain's Future on 29 June 2009.

Liam Byrne: There is no additional borrowing as a result of the affordable housing announcement in Building Britain's Future.
	In 2009-10 and 2010-11 the additional resources for housing will all come from within existing budgets. This has been achieved by reprioritisation within the Department for Communities and Local Government's budget and the reallocation of anticipated underspends from the Home Office, the Department for Transport, the Department of Health and the Department for Children Schools and Families.

Finance: Non-Profit Making Associations

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to increase levels of access to credit by the social enterprise sector.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Government are taking action to ensure competitively priced credit continues to be available. On 19 January 2009, the Government announced a package of measures designed to reinforce the stability of the financial system, to increase confidence and capacity to lend, and in turn to support the recovery of the economy. These measures build on those announced on 8 October last year.
	As a condition of accessing the Asset Protection Scheme, the Government have agreed legally binding lending commitments with Lloyds and RBS. These commitments will see Lloyds lend an additional 14 billion, and RBS an additional 25 billion, on commercial terms (and subject to market demand), over the 12 months from March 2009. The Government will report annually to Parliament on the delivery of these commitments.
	The Government also announced in the Budget that, to support the long-term growth of a thriving third sector, it would consult on the design and functions of a Social Investment Wholesale Bank.

Home Information Packs: VAT

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  on which elements of home information packs valued added tax is levied;
	(2)  what his most recent estimate is of the revenue which has accrued to the Exchequer from value added tax on home information packs.

Stephen Timms: The normal VAT liability rules apply when the constituent parts of a home information pack (HIP) are purchased from a VAT registered business. VAT will usually be chargeable, although Land Registry search fees are normally VAT free.
	VAT will also be due on any fee charged by a VAT registered agent in connection with the compilation of a HIP.
	Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs do not collect data on VAT raised from individual goods and services.

Local Taxation

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  with reference to the Valuation Office Agency's performance target on value for money from local taxation, what methodology is used to calculate yield from local taxation;
	(2)  what targets have been set for the Valuation Office Agency on value for money in relation to  (a) local taxation and  (b) inheritance tax; when those targets were set; and how performance against those targets is measured.

Stephen Timms: I announced the key performance indicators and targets for the Valuation Office Agency for 2009-10 to the House by written ministerial statement on 10 June 2009. They include:
	To improve overall value for money on local taxation work by 3 per cent.
	To improve value for money on inheritance tax work for HMRC by 5 per cent.
	Value for money for local taxation work is calculated as a weighted index of measures covering timeliness, quality and volume of work divided by total cost.
	That for inheritance tax work is measured by comparing the Agency's costs with the estimated tax achieved. In managing its performance against this indicator, the Agency targets resources to those cases requiring adjustment to ensure that the correct amount of tax due is paid.

Public Expenditure: Wales

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the expenditure proposals contained in Annex A of the Building Britain's Future document will have a Barnett consequential for Wales.

Liam Byrne: The funding announced in 'Building Britain's Future' is based on existing provision, including reprioritisation, and therefore does not attract Barnett consequentials.

Revenue and Customs: Training

Damian Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many days' training has been given on average to a front line customs officer on the introduction of the points-based immigration system.

Phil Woolas: On average frontline Border Force Officers complete at least three quarters of a day dedicated to training on the points based system.

Valuation Office: Marketing

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans the Valuation Office Agency has to replace its world class branding.

Stephen Timms: The Valuation Office Agency's ambition, set out in its Forward Plan for 2009-12, published on its website at
	www.voa.gov.uk
	is to be recognised both nationally and internationally for its expertise, achievement and innovation in the valuation services it provides. As the recent Framework Review recognised (report published on the HMRC website) at
	www.hmrc.gov.uk
	the VOA has been successfully striving to improve its customer service, consistent with HM Government's ambition to provide world class public services. The recommendation in the Framework Review report regarding the use of the term world class relates to ensuring that all staff in the Agency and its stakeholders properly understand its aims. This and other recommendations made by the Framework Review are currently being considered.

Valuation: Housing

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what factors are taken into account by the Valuation Office Agency when deciding whether to allocate a dwelling an SC value significant code.

Stephen Timms: The value significant code SC may be used to indicate that a property was in poor state of repair when soldto the extent that this affected the value of the property at the date of sale. The Valuation Office Agency does not provide specific guidance to its staff on when to use the codeit is a matter of local knowledge and judgment. General guidance on the use of all its dwelling-house codes is published on the VOA's website at:
	www.voa.gov.uk/publications/dwellinghousecodingguide/files/contents.htm